


Hammer of the Gods (Valhalla, I Am Coming)

by bandwidthlimit, happypugfics



Series: Supercorp Marvel AU [2]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Kara!Thor, Lena!Iron-Maiden, Smut!!! Chapter ONe, The Marvel AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-12 10:27:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 30,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29383437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bandwidthlimit/pseuds/bandwidthlimit, https://archiveofourown.org/users/happypugfics/pseuds/happypugfics
Summary: Sequel to As Hard As SteelShe had always hated public events, and while Kara made them infinitely more enjoyable, the questions they were inevitably asked became more and more pointed. For the most part, Lena didn't answer them, preferring to move on down the line and let them write what they would. Jess, her PR agent of choice, had reminded her that if she wanted to keep what they wrote in check, she would have to give them something eventually."Miss Luthor!"She turned with a feigned look of interest, her fingers gripping into Kara's elbow to let her know to stop. "Yes?""Oh," the reporter seemed flustered, like he hadn't actually expected a response. "Uh, what do you think about the recent attacks on your brother's legacy? Iron-Maiden took out another stash of Luthor Corp weapons earlier today. Some are saying it's a direct attack against the Luthor name."Lena's smile thinned, "Firstly, my brother doesn't have a legacy, and if he did, Iron-Maiden certainly wouldn't waste her time tarnishing it.""How can you be so sure?"Her smile widened, green eyes alight with cold amusement. "Because I am Iron-Maiden. If you'll excuse me."
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Samantha "Sam" Arias/Alex Danvers
Series: Supercorp Marvel AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1975600
Comments: 59
Kudos: 181





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> It's finally here! Our sequel to As Hard As Steel (As Bold As Iron)! We are very excited to share it with you!
> 
> I would like to preface with a warning.
> 
> If you are expecting carbon copy Marvel movies, you will not find them here. We picked the plotlines we thought would be the most fun and we have taken several liberties. It is fanfiction after all and you can make it what you want it, and we have. We have made it our own. We wrote this first and foremost for us but we do hope that you will enjoy it.
> 
> Please keep an eye on the tags and the warnings as they may change or be added to with each new chapter.
> 
> If you are brave enough to go on another journey with us then, without further ado, I present:
> 
> Hammer of the Gods

Kara had waited the better part of a year just for tonight. Tonight, everything finally fell into place and her brain child, the First Annual World Vision Gala, would hopefully go off without a hitch. She had been planning for months and it was her first big event created all on her own. Having twice planned and organized the Benefit for the Firefighters Family Fund had prepared her for this. It was 4:47pm and the doors to the Gala opened at 6:00pm sharp. There was nothing left for her to do but attend. She trusted everyone in charge at the convention center to set up and take care of things. It was all about as rehearsed as it possibly could be. Lena had assured her that she would feel better if she just took a step back and stayed at home until the doors opened. Kara was finding that a mistake.

Her nerves weren’t any better at home than they would be if she were already there. Worse off, in fact, because Lena wasn’t even ready. Hope had already picked up on her nervous energy. She had probably already alerted Lena to the new readings, even. She certainly let her know.

“Miss Kara, ambient kilowatt readings have increased,” Hope supplied helpfully.

_ Still _ ‘Miss’ Kara. Always ‘Miss’ Kara. Didn’t seem to matter that she had lived in the house for almost nine months now.  _ With _ Lena even longer.

Kara adjusted her tie in the mirror and sighed, “Yes, thank you Hope. I know. Call Lena please. Put her in through the bedroom.”

She walked out into a spacious bedroom where her suit jacket lay splayed out on the bed, just waiting for her to put it on. Matching shoes rested at the foot of the bed, also just waiting to be put on. There didn’t seem a point yet though because Lena wasn’t home yet. Kara looked at her watch, 4:52pm. They were going to be late.

“ _ Hmm _ …”

" _ I'm on my way, I swear. _ " Lena's voice rang through the bedroom, accompanied by the sound of rushing wind. She was approaching fast over the Atlantic, the water choppy and deep blue beneath her.

It was the third cache this month she'd been sent out to  _ take care of _ . It was one of the many things she had argued in favor of since their joining SHIELD. Now that she was no longer manufacturing weapons, she wanted as many that had her name on them gone as possible. That didn't mean she hadn't argued with Sam over this particular outing.

Today was important to Kara, and therefore, important to Lena. This mission could have waited a day, or even a few hours.

The orders had been clear, and no amount of arguing had swayed the Director. And so, Lena had gone, grudgingly, across the ocean to a small outlying town in Iraq, where she had proceeded to blow a small portion of it to fine dust. It had taken less time to demolish the weapons than it had taken to get there, but Lena tried to shrug the time spent off her metal encased shoulders.

She would make it up to Kara. Besides, she wasn't even late yet.

"You said," Kara cleared her throat and held up another waistcoat in front of the mirror in their closet, "You said that the mark six thrusters enabled for one third of the flight time, Lena. If you are not on the landing platform in the next twenty minutes I will turn every appliance in this house against you. Don't think I won't. You still have to get ready. I can only do so much for you. Everything is already picked out." She frowned and hung up her second choice and began to pull on the vest and button it up, "I will not ride with you if you smell like blast smoke."

" _ I'm almost home, darling. Don't you dare turn the espresso machine against me. _ " Lena slowed the Mark 6 as she approached the city, making sure she maintained her altitude until she was closer to the house.

The house in question was a perfect mix of her tastes and Kara's. She had been reliably informed that it was less of a house and more of a manor, though she maintained it was just barely large enough for their needs. It boasted two full stories, several bedrooms upstairs, with her lab and the garage taking up most of the ground floor. The landing pad in question was the sole outlier of the bottom floor, jutting out into the garden.

Her green boots touched down gently as she landed. The platform began to drop, bringing her down into the cool dark of the lab. " _ I do smell like blast smoke, however. How much time do I have? _ "

"It is…" Kara glanced at her watch, "One past Five. You've got forty-nine minutes, if we leave right when we have to and don't–"

Kara groaned as a searing pain shot through her frontal lobe, forcing her to sit down on the bed. She held her head, eyes squeezed shut, all the lights in the bedroom flashing on and off like a rave.

"Miss Kara, kilowatt measures tripled in–"

" _ Got it, Hope _ ," Kara snapped and rubbed her eyes.

" _ Kara, _ " Lena's voice was soft with concern, even as robotic arms whirred around her to remove the suit. Hope gave a quiet warning as the helmet was removed, leaving Lena to dig in her pocket for her phone as the call transferred over. " _ Are you alright? I'll be upstairs as soon as these boots are off. _ "

"Fine. It'll pass," It usually did. Kara worked on breathing evenly. Her head pounded and she saw flashes of the rainbow bridge from her nightmares, something she now knew was called a bifröst. The word didn't mean much to her but she supposed it was finally nice to have a name for it.

The flickering lights finally slowed as the sudden headache began to subside. She'd been having them more often recently, but Lena didn't necessarily need to know exactly how often. Blue eyes opened, squinting at the light but did not take long to adjust. Kara sighed heavily, some sweat having formed on her brow and she pushed up off the bed and went into the bathroom. She threw some cool water on her face and turned when she heard footsteps.

"I'm alright, I promise!"

Lena raised her eyebrows from the doorway, arms crossed in front of her. "Mm, I'm sure that's why the house was about to deploy countermeasures." She moved further into the bathroom, touching Kara gently on the shoulder as she passed.

Kara's irritability was warranted, she knew. It was incredibly frustrating for her to have such a tenuous hold on her abilities, only made worse by Hope's constant reminders of her output. But, as so many things for them had been, it was a compromise made with SHIELD, and if it kept Kara out of a plastic hamster cage then Lena was all for it.

She cranked the water in the shower on high, watching it spray from both shower heads. Kara had complained about it being unnecessary, until they had shared a shower and she hadn't gotten cold. "Shame you're already dressed, you could join me."

"Mmm, a shame indeed," Kara said and turned around quick enough to grab Lena before she could step into the shower. Her hands left warm prints on her waist and the blonde used that grip to pull Lena into her. She leaned her head down and kissed along her shoulder and up her neck, "You're lucky we are on a time limit." 

She gently pushed Lena towards the shower and turned back towards the mirror to fix her hair. The house hadn't actually had to deploy any countermeasures against her yet, to Kara's relief, but she knew it was only a matter of time until her headaches got bad enough. 

"Am I?" Lena said with a grin, stripping down and climbing into the shower. She washed quickly, Kara's reminder of their time constraint in the forefront of her mind. She did take extra time to scrub the dust out of her hair.

When she stepped out of the shower, she was alone in the bathroom. She put her considerable skill in getting ready with little time to use, blow drying her hair efficiently. Make up took a little longer, and when she made it to the bedroom, Hope informed her helpfully that she had twenty minutes to departure.

True to Kara's word, her dress was laid out on the foot of the bed. Lena smiled at Kara's choice. A deep green, the dress would cling tight to her hips and dip low at her back. She wasn't in the habit of letting Kara dress her, but tonight was special. "Hope, where is Kara?" She asked, stepping into the gown.

"Miss Kara is currently in her office," Hope replied.

"Thank you, Hope." Reaching behind herself, Lena pulled up the short zipper and stepped into the heels Kara had put out for her. If Kara wore flats, the heels would put them at eye level.

They clicked as she moved through the quiet house, pausing at the open doorway to Kara's office. It was one of her favorite rooms, and they often found themselves tucked into the overstuffed couch together rather than the large sectional in the living room. This room was purely Kara. 

It had massive floor to ceiling windows lining one wall, facing the garden. The couch in question was across the room, and Lena knew from experience that if she lay on her side facing those windows she was left with an unencumbered view of the sky. More often than not, this time of year, it was roiling with dark clouds.

But not today. It was calm and clear outside, like the blue of Kara's eyes as she sat at the desk, hammer in hand. "Kara?" Lena leaned against the door jam, tipping her head curiously at the blonde. "Are you ready?"

Kara looked up abruptly and nearly dropped the hammer at the sight of Lena. "Oh  _ wow _ ," She stood quickly and set mjolnir on her desk, never taking her eyes off Lena.

"Yes, I'm ready," the blonde crossed over to the doorway and pulled Lena into her, kissing her softly. "You look radiant," Kara held her gently and looked between them, herself in a green suit and Lena in her green dress. Even if the tabloids hadn't already latched onto their relationship, it would be hard to deny they had come together.

"You clean up nice yourself," Lena smoothed her hands over the crisp lapels of Kara's suit, wanting very much to fist her hands in it. "If you don't want us to be late, we need to go." 

She took a regretful step back out of Kara's arms, dimples flashing in an amused smile. "You have my lipstick, just there." She gestured to the spot on her own mouth, off to the corner.

"Hm, should we leave it? Give them something to talk about?" Kara teased as she grabbed Lena's hand and left her office. She led them down into the garage and the lights flickered on, "Which one should we take?"

There were three cars in question, each a different grade of noticeable. Lena laughed, intertwining their fingers with the squeeze. "This is your night, darling. Your choice. It's not too late to call Bill." 

Since they had moved in together, her driver Bill had enjoyed Kara's preference for driving herself, and by extension, Lena everywhere. It meant less grueling hours for him, and the chance to actually spend time with his grandchildren.

Kara took her bottom lip into her teeth, chewing a little on it as she decided, still aware of the time crunch. "Hmm, oh yeah, let's take the Bugatti."

_____

The sleek silver car slid to a stop in front of the valet stand. Kara stepped out and tossed the first valet the keys while stepping around to the passenger side. She stopped the second valet from opening the door and leaned down and opened it for Lena, lipstick no longer present. 

The cameras were already flashing when Lena stepped out of the car, her hand nestled snugly in Kara's elbow. She leaned into Kara as they walked, bumping her nose gently against the shell of the blonde's ear. "Why do I bother with lipstick around you?" The flashes increased as Kara turned red.

As they approached the front doors, reporters seemed to crowd in, held back by a thin rope. Lena could hear her name being called, over and over like a pack of yapping dogs, and she kept her smile plastered firmly on her face. 

She had always hated public events, and while Kara made them infinitely more enjoyable, the questions they were inevitably asked became more and more pointed. For the most part, Lena didn't answer them, preferring to move on down the line and let them write what they would. Jess, her PR agent of choice, had reminded her that if she wanted to keep what they wrote in check, she would have to give them something eventually.

As they slowed behind the couple in front of them, Lena decided eventually might as well be now.

"Miss Luthor!" 

She turned with a feigned look of interest, her fingers gripping into Kara's elbow to let her know to stop. "Yes?"

"Oh," the reporter seemed flustered, like he hadn't actually expected a response. "Uh, what do you think about the recent attacks on your brother's legacy? Iron-Maiden took out another stash of Luthor Corp weapons earlier today. Some are saying it's a direct attack against the Luthor name."

Lena's smile thinned, "Firstly, my brother doesn't have a legacy, and if he did, Iron-Maiden certainly wouldn't waste her time tarnishing it."

"How can you be so sure?"

Her smile widened, green eyes alight with cold amusement. "Because I am Iron-Maiden. If you'll excuse me."

Kara knew part of these public events meant humoring the reporters and journalists and paparazzi who always gathered for them. She had learned to weather them with Lena as a couple and honestly she was never really the focus of any of the questions. When she was, she answered what she could and what she knew Lena would be comfortable with. So when Lena stopped to actually talk to one, Kara knew the routine. She smiled and listened so at least everyone would have nice pictures of them for the tabloids later.

_ And then she said that. _

That certainly wasn't SHIELD approved. That bit of news would also almost certainly overshadow her fundraiser. Kara whirled around, eyes wide and very taken aback by Lena's nonchalant reveal and she could tell by Lena's smile that her girlfriend found it the most amusing thing she had said all day.

"Lena!"

"What?" Lena widened her eyes at Kara, exasperated as they kept walking. "No one will believe him. Besides, it's not any different than when you told the waitress you could eat five full entrees because you're an alien." The last she hissed out in a whisper.

She was done with every news outlet asking her about Lex. It had been over a year. He was in prison, he held no control over her fate, or the fate of her company. She wanted nothing more than to be free of his shadow, for good.

Still. Jess was going to kill her.

" _ Everyone _ will believe him. He was from _ The Daily Report _ ," Kara whispered and then smiled as some more flashes went off, "I'm pretty sure Beth at Waffle House isn't going to believe that I'm actually," Kara gave Lena's hand a squeeze and held the door open for her as they finally walked inside, free of the press, at least for now.

" _ An alien _ ," she finished and released Lena's hand, "I need to go check in and make a round. I'll be back. Please try to keep any more big reveals to the minimum, okay?" She leaned in and kissed Lena's cheek but it was a quick peck and the action alone would give away Kara was a little more than peeved.

"I'll do my best," Lena only just managed to keep the sarcasm out of her voice, squaring her shoulders as Kara walked away from her. 

She understood that Kara was concerned. Logically, it made sense. Revealing what was supposed to be a secret identity was a big deal. How secret could it really be, when the arc reactor was front in center of the suit and blatantly on display in her current dress.

It was only a matter of time. In fact, she was relatively certain she had seen a tabloid screeching out the conspiracy theory from her most recent ex assistant's desk.

Lena picked up a glass of champagne from a waiter who practically floated by, if only to have something to do with her hands. Without Kara by her side, she felt untethered, but set herself to working the room. They would deal with the media fallout later, if SHIELD didn't get to it first.

Half an hour passed and Kara hadn't turned back up yet. Either she had found something that needed her attention or she was taking her time on purpose.

Luckily for Lena, however, a different hand found her shoulder, "There's my favorite CEO. Where is Zeus?" 

Sam grinned her usual smile, voice full of mirth. She had arrived in a dress, uncharacteristic for her since Lena was used to seeing her in a black agent suit. She was also as done up as Lena had ever seen, hair up, full makeup. She was definitely dressed to impress someone.

"Off working, I suppose. You look nice, Sam. Hoping to catch someone's eye in particular?" Lena raised one brow, a smirk curling her lips.

She toyed with the idea of mentioning her slip of irritation to Sam, twisting the champagne flute in her fingers. On one hand, she didn't much care, but on the other… it had upset Kara, which was becoming increasingly easy to do lately. She brushed the urge aside, giving Sam her full attention.

"Obviously," Sam quipped while grabbing a glass of champagne off a tray as a waiter passed. She made a little show of her dress and then took a sip, "Think Alex will like it?"

"She'd have to be blind not to, Sam." 

"Ooh, feeling cheeky tonight I see," Sam laughed, "Kara better watch out." It was an obvious tease, but Sam did like to have fun at Lena's expense every now and again. After all, that's what friends were for, right?

"So," she changed the topic, "I don't care how drunk you get tonight. I'll still need that mission report in the morning or Jones will have my head."

Lena drained her champagne flute in one shot, setting it down on a nearby table with a sharp  _ clink _ . "He'll be after mine either way, don't worry about it. Oh, look! Is that Alex?" She pointed across the room to the entrance where people were still filtering slowly in. 

Sure enough, a familiar short hair cut was weaving its way through the crowd. Attached to it was former Detective Alex Danvers, who Lena was shocked to see wasn't wearing the suit she'd expected. Instead, Alex was in a sleek sheath dress that seemed to shimmer as she moved. "Looks like she's dressing to impress, too."

"She's impressive in anything. No offense, but you definitely picked the wrong sister," Sam informed and finished her own glass. She set it on a tray as she passed to go and retrieve her girlfriend from the entrance.

" _ Hey _ , you look amazing," Sam exclaimed as Alex spotted her. "Lena and I were in the corner. Come on." She kissed Alex's cheek in greeting and grabbed her hand to lead her back through the crowds and over to Lena.

A new champagne flute in hand, Lena met Sam and Alex with the most genuine smile she could muster. Alex returned it with the same reserved smile she always gave Lena. After a year and a half, Alex still looked at her like she was a Luthor, first and foremost.

It shouldn't sting anymore. Lena put a lot of effort into pretending like it didn't.

Alex had one arm slung around Sam's waist, scanning the crowd as people moved around them. "Where's Kara? She usually finds me before I can even see you two."

The smile on her face went stiff. "She's working," Lena reminded, "She's probably making sure the waitresses know to cut Morgan Edge off at one glass."

The idle chatter kept for about another thirty minutes with Sam having to play intermediary and introduce new topics after both Lena and Alex stopped after two sentences with each new one. She couldn't see how they still didn't really like each other. It was ridiculous, and Sam told Lena so. She just... didn't tell that to Alex. The relationship was still new and Sam was remiss to bring anything up that might start a trist.

Kara finally emerged at last, without her suit jacket and the sleeves of her shirt rolled up to just above her elbows. She'd been doing something that was for certain. Her trio was easy to find in the crowd. She always seemed to just know where Lena was at these things.

"Hey guys! You two look great!" Kara greeted and gave Alex a hug then pulled back, "Sorry. I had to make sure everything was set up just right, and it all looks amazing. I can't believe tonight is finally happening. Although, someone did accidentally almost let Morgan Edge have a second glass but that crisis was averted. They know to give him the sparkling water now instead."

"Maybe now we'll all stand a chance of him keeping his hands to himself," Lena's lips curled delicately around the edges of her own glass, taking the moment to appreciate the view of Kara in shirtsleeves. "Welcome back, darling."

"He's the one that tried to make a pass at you at the silent auction, wasn't he?" Sam asked, trying to make sure she was remembering the correct creep for the situation, "Why do we keep inviting him again?"

"Because he is the fourth highest donor at almost every event," Kara reminded but her face showed just how unfond of it she was. She leaned into Lena a little just thinking about him. She had half a mind to introduce some shock therapy if he tried anything else.

Alex groaned, "Why is it always about money?"

Lena hid her sigh, shifting a little closer into Kara. "It's what makes the world go 'round. The best we can do is make sure something good comes from it."

_____

Kara left the back, having needed to assure herself that the cleanup crew could actually, in fact, handle the cleanup. As it turned out, they were pretty confident in the job that Kara had hired them to do so the blonde finally resigned herself to be able to go home in peace. The night had gone incredibly well and they had acquired a hefty sum for donation. All in all, a good night, even if Kara could tell Lena and her sister still didn't quite get along. It pleased her to no end to have her loved ones there supporting her. She had even calmed down. Lena had probably been right. She had only said it to one reporter and without more sources, who was going to believe them? SHIELD could probably easily squash any rumors she had inadvertently started.

A firm hand found its way to the small of Lena's back, thumb able to rub just the edge of her exposed skin thanks to the low cut back. "Are you ready to go?" Kara asked and kissed the shell of Lena's ear. Alex and Sam had already left and they both had made the rounds several times. There was no need to make another before leaving. Everything had wound down as it stood.

"Home with you? Always." Lena felt the tension bleed out of her, the soft rub of Kara's hands soothing her.

She had been on edge most of the evening, starting with her uncharacteristic loss of temper with the reporter and culminating in an entire night of tense back and forth with Alex. It never failed to wear her down, and Kara's touch was reassurance that no matter how frustrating the event may have been, they were facing it together.

"I thought you might be. I radioed the valet stand so the car should be ready. Let's go," Kara nodded towards the doors and got Lena moving with a gentle press of her hand. They had to work their way through some more people standing by the door, waiting for their own vehicles but Kara could see theirs waiting for them through the glass doors. She could also tell the reporters hadn't given up yet. 

To put Lena in a better mood before facing them, as Kara opened the door, she leaned in, "You look amazing in that dress but it will look much better  _ on our floor _ ." She finished it with a kiss on Lena's cheek as she passed and Kara let the door close behind her. Now if they could just make it to the car.

The heat that Kara had shot through her froze as cameras seemed to explode around them. Even the ghost of Kara's hand on her back seemed to cool as what felt like hundreds of voices shouted her name. It was with dread that she looked at Kara and saw a stony look take over her features.

Clearly, her flippant comment from earlier had not been forgotten. Lena mentally kicked herself for not bringing it up to Sam when she'd had the chance.

They descended the steps in silence, Kara's hand at her back feeling more like a prod, pushing her forward when she dared to slow.

"Miss Luthor! Miss Luthor, is it true that you're the Iron-Maiden?"

"Why have you been blowing up Luthor Corp weapons?"

"What does your family think about your status as an iron vigilante?"

"Miss Luthor, is your girlfriend aware that you moonlight as a superhero?"

Lena was gritting her teeth so hard by the time they reached the car she was surprised she hadn't cracked any. She didn't dare look at Kara, instead keeping her gaze focused on the sleek silver lines of the Bugatti.

It wasn't until someone reached out and grabbed her elbow that she spun, eyes narrowed.

"Miss Luthor, do you have anything to say regarding the allegations that you are Iron-Maiden?"

"I'm shocked it took announcing it for anyone to figure it out."

The more questions she heard the worse her mood got. They never used to bother her but tonight, for some reason, each one felt like slowly putting her ears against a grater.

No one had forgotten. In fact, it had seemed to spread faster than any other rumor (even if it were true) that Kara could even recount. They were almost to the car, but almost apparently was not close enough.

Kara felt Lena stop and at this point she just let her. Her hand fell away from Lena's back and she just waited with an expression that most definitely said,  _ 'Go on. You might as well now _ .' Kara waited, one hand on the door handle and other arm resting on top of the car, patient as ever despite her mood being otherwise. 

The first raindrop hit the windshield.

A second found it's way trickling down Lena's back, and the cold track of it made her shiver. Only moments ago, the sky had been clear and dark. 

More questions were being thrown at her. They blurred together, her focus only on the resentful patience in Kara's eyes.

The longer she didn't answer, the heavier the rain fell. With a steeling breath, she turned back to the horde of reporters and said what she should have from the beginning of the evening. "You can address your questions to my publicist, Jessica Huang." And dropped herself less than gracefully into the car.

Kara got in the car, sitting heavy in the seat. She at least waited for Lena to buckle her seatbelt, ever safety conscious, before speeding off. It took them less time than it should have for them to get home, even in the rain, and the car pulled in smoothly to their garage. The thunder had started to roll while they pulled up. But any flash of lightning had yet to make an appearance.

Kara didn't say anything as she got out of the car, just peeled herself out of the soaked green suit one layer at a time on the way to the living room.

Lena lingered in the dark garage for a moment, taking a moment to compose herself before she followed Kara into the house, picking up the discarded garments as she went.

This wasn't their first fight, and was unlikely to be their last. They were both too stubborn, but Lena knew the majority of their issues were due to her short temper, especially when the spark came in the form of the press asking about her brother. It was something she had been lectured about time and time again, first by Jess, then Sam, then Director Jones, and now she assumed, Kara. The knowledge of what was waiting didn't make the reality of it any better.

She dropped Kara's suit jacket and vest onto the back of the couch, taking her earrings out with measured movements before she tugged her hair loose from its updo. She dropped both the earrings and pins from her hair into the bowl by the front door, typically used for whatever keys found their way into the house.

"I know you're waiting to yell at me. Let's get it over with."

"I don't want to yell at you," Kara said, voice surprisingly calm as she stripped her tie off and tossed it on top of her pile of clothes Lena had made on the couch. She kicked her shoes off then started to unbutton her dress shirt. She stopped briefly when some more thunder rolled over the house and then continued when it passed. 

Casting her eyes skyward, like she could see the roiling clouds through the ceiling, Lena bit the inside of her cheek. She toed out of her shoes, leaving them by the door, and padded in bare feet toward the hallway, the dress making soft swishing sounds as she walked. "Okay," she said softly, one hand braced against the wall. The air between them felt thick, and Lena was too tired to fight through it. "I'm going to bed, if you want to join me."

Kara was tired too. She had a lot of things she wanted to say but she knew if she said them that nothing would come out right and it would frustrate the both of them. If Kara got frustrated it would work her up and if she got worked up…

Some lightning finally flashed outside and the rain came down harder. The blonde sighed and picked up her wet clothes off the couch and went upstairs, but she didn't turn into the bedroom. Instead she went to her 'office' and tossed the clothes in her desk chair. She could see the clouds rolling through the windows as they lit up softly. She was doing this. Kara just wished she could stop.

Surely Lena knew that if people knew who she was, her real identity _ and _ Iron-Maiden, any enemies she had made would know right where to find her. And L Corp had its fair share of enemies, Kara imagined. Just because Lex and Lillian were behind bars didn't mean anything. Lex had been locked away and still managed to almost get Lena killed. What was to stop someone else? Kara chewed the inside of her lip. Thinking about it wasn't helping.

Lena was curled up under the blankets, gown abandoned on the floor, when the first crash of lightning landed outside. She burrowed deeper into the bed, her eyes shut tight against the bright evidence of Kara's temper.

It wasn't that she didn't know how monumentally she'd messed up. She knew why keeping Lena Luthor separate from Iron-Maiden was important, but she was so tired of keeping up a double life, answering questions about herself without letting on that she knew anything past what had been reported in the news. More importantly, she wanted it perfectly clear that she was separate from the reputation of Luthor Corp.

She didn't expect Kara to get it, wouldn't waste her breath trying to explain it right now. It would be easier on both of them if Lena could keep a low profile. 

Lena rolled over in frustration. 

Kara hated the suit in the first place. That was most likely where the base of the problem stemmed from. She accepted it and Lena's role as Iron-Maiden, come to terms with it, but that didn't mean she had to like it. She could respect Lena's decision, tried her best to understand it. Just something about her flying off to blow up a secret stash of weapons (that belonged to bad people, by the way) did not sit right with Kara. It sat even worse if those people could know who was really doing it and could retaliate. 

She sat on her couch, staring out those larger than life windows, feet firmly planted on the carpet and Mjolnir between them. One hand gripped the handle firm. It brought comfort but Kara was too tired to think about why. She would get another headache if she did. The inside of her lip was about to be raw if she chewed it anymore. At least the rain was easing off, the thunder less offensive.

She loved Lena. That was the most important thing. Over all of it. Over the distaste of the suit. Over the resentment for herself and whatever this power was that she barely had a grip on. Over SHIELD and their strict management over more parts of their lives than she was comfortable with. All of it. Kara let out a breath and an uneasy hand released the hammer as she stood up. It stayed put, like she knew it would and she padded softly out of her office and down the hall to the bedroom.

The door creaked quietly as it swung open, and Lena found herself torn. She could pretend to be asleep, and take the cowards way out of the inevitable argument, or she could face Kara head on. 

She waited too long. She heard Kara sigh and move into the room, the sound enough to make Lena shift guiltily and sit up. She tracked Kara's movements around the room, first to the bathroom, and then the closet to get out of the rest of her suit. 

Kara came back out in a soft t-shirt and her underwear and then back into the bathroom. The door was shut for longer than necessary for her usual routine until finally, the light beyond flicked off and the blonde finally walked over to the bed. She was still peeved, it was true. Sour with Lena for revealing something so potentially dangerous for them, even if one of them  _ was _ impervious to… everything. Hurt even that her announcement had grossly overshadowed her event. But, it was done.

Kara's side of the bed dipped as she got in. She pulled the sheets back and slipped under them. There was a wide space between them for several seconds before the bed moved again and Kara scooted closer, making the space small enough Lena could close it easily if she wanted.

More silence. And then…

"Please don't make me yell…"

Lena let out a strangled little laugh, closing the distance between them by pressing her side into Kara's front. She blinked unseeingly at the ceiling. "I really don't want you to."

"Then I won't," Kara concluded and swallowed hard. The rain against their windows had tapered off and the sound of thunder was soft and distant. 

"Will you lay down?"

Instead of answering, Lena slid herself back down, shifting onto her side so she was facing Kara. In the dark, lit only from the arc reactor, the shadows over Kara's features were dark. Lena reached up and ran the backs of her fingers along Kara's cheek, "I love you," she whispered.

"I love you," Kara echoed softly. Her eyes closed at Lena's touch and she inhaled deeply. The blonde scooted ever closer and wrapped her arm around Lena's waist. When her hand splayed out over naked flesh her eyes opened, "You don't have any pajamas on."

"It was too much effort," Lena admitted, back bowing in a gentle arch as Kara slid her hand against her back. "I didn't even hang up the dress."

Lena would barely be able to see the faintest hint of a smile forming on Kara's face. "And? Does it?"

"Does it what?"

The hand on Lena's back moved down slowly, lightly dragging Kara's fingers over her skin till they reached the swell of her ass and squeezed, "Look better on the floor."

Lena laughed, swatting Kara gently on the chest. "You'd have to tell me, I didn't look."

Kara pulled back abruptly and lifted the blanket, letting her eyes adjust to the dim light of the arc reactor. She couldn't see much but she could see it reflect off milky curves, "Hm, oh yes. A lot better."

"You can see it from all the way down there, can you?" Lena didn't bother hiding the fond amusement in her voice. She shifted her legs together as she lay back, giving Kara a more clear view.

"Mm, I can," Kara concluded and lowered the blanket again. She pulled Lena into her, more into the middle of their ridiculously sized bed. Soft lips found Lena's jaw, light and affectionate. They paused, just ghosting over Lena's cheek when warm breath hit her skin, "Can we  _ pause _ earlier?"

Lena let her hands wander up Kara's sides, dragging against the soft cotton of her sleep shirt. She tipped her head to the side, giving Kara more access to the lightly freckled skin. "Only if you'll fuck me like you're angry," she kept her voice low, dark and promising in the way she knew Kara liked.

The little hairs on Kara's arms stood on end, an almost visible shock moving through her at Lena's words. That tone. Oh she hadn't used that tone in a while.

"The ambient kilo–"

"Sleep mode, Hope!" Kara yelled. She sat up and pulled the t-shirt up and over her head. It fell to the foot of the bed. The blonde straddled one of Lena's thighs while she ran a hand through her hair to get it out of her eyes. When she leaned over and kissed Lena's ear it fell to the side, over one shoulder.

" _ Pause _ ."

She bit Lena's earlobe and dragged sloppy kisses down her jaw to her neck. Instead of soft lips, Lena's skin met more hard teeth and Kara sucked a mark right under her jaw that would be impossible to hide with makeup alone. More were needed. She left another on her throat and then on her collarbone, and then on the tender skin above the reactor.

A hand smoothed down Lena's stomach, heading downward and pulled at her underwear. There came a distinct ripping sound from beneath the sheets and seconds later a warm hand cupped Lena's cunt. Kara's free hand grabbed both of Lena's by the wrist and pushed them till they were up above her head. And then Kara locked her arm. Lena would be able to feel the absence of give in her grip.

It didn't stop her from pressing against them to check, her fingers scrabbling against the solid headboard. Kara's breath puffed over her chest, making her skin break out in goosebumps. She bit her lip hard in an effort to hold back the moan of frustration rising in her throat. Her hips shifted into Kara's palm, twin stripes blazing into her skin from the force needed to tear her underwear. The brief motion was enough for Kara's fingers to brush against her - Lena bit down harder. 

A stiff nipple rolled between Kara's teeth. She sucked and then kissed the underside of the same breast. She bit a mark there too, intending to leave them everywhere she could. She didn't usually like to leave evidence of where she had been. It meant she had been too rough, something Kara couldn't really afford to be, but this felt different. Today she had permission.

Two firm fingers moved in and rubbed a few rough circles around Lena's clit, too hard to be what she needed just yet. They dipped down and slid inside her, curling to feel slick flesh. She started to pump, fast, but did not add another finger when she usually did, when she knew Lena would ask for it. Instead she slowed down, denying her. Kara kept her face just out of Lena's reach and her grip on her wrist remained firm. 

Lena let out a whine, her legs open as wide as she could get them with Kara pinning her down. She tried to press up into Kara's thrusts only to be met with another change of pace. She tugged again at her hands, the disjointed rhythm making her want to grab Kara and put her hands where and how she wanted them.

This would be worth it, she knew. Every bruise, every red mark flaring to life against her skin would be worth it in the morning. While neither of them were ready to talk it out, taking the edge off their frustration would help. Lena had never minded a little pain with her pleasure. 

On and on it went. Each time Lena got close, Kara would pull back. Her fingers would rub painfully slow long enough for Lena to calm down, and then Kara would speed up again. She would not kiss her on the mouth, only close enough to drive Lena up a wall. When she did, they were harsh and full of teeth.

Eventually, as Kara's hand sped up, pumping inside of her, a third finger finally joined. A rough thumb circled Lena's clit and the pressure on her wrists released. Kara sat up, sweaty, hand still working till her other came down and replaced her thumb with her other so she could fully focus. "You can touch me now."

Lena surged up, her hands coming up to frame Kara's red cheeks and pull her into a sloppy kiss. Her breath was coming in short gasps, hips jerking in time with Kara's thumb. It felt like every nerve ending in her body was lit up all at once, prickly and a little uncomfortable from being denied release so many times. Her mouth moved hotly down Kara's neck, stopping at the junction of her shoulder as the fingers inside her hit a spot that made her moan, half formed words and apologies spilling out of her mouth.

"You'll break your teeth if you bite me," Kara warned, voice husky and only moderately out of breath. She put a little more force behind her hand, making sure to hit that one spot more often. She could feel Lena wasn't going to last much longer. She took in all her mumbled apologies with a grain of salt. Lena was probably only saying it because Kara was finally giving her what she wanted.

Lena mumbled something that sounded like "buy new teeth," as she ground down hard against Kara's fingers. Her movements were becoming less coordinated, her hips stuttering with every questing thrust of Kara's hand. Tears pricked at the back of her eyes. Somehow, after being denied orgasm for so long, it felt like it was even farther away now that Kara was willing to let her have it.

Or so she thought. Kara's fingers twisted in her and she bit down against Kara's warning. She could feel herself clamp down, holding Kara's fingers in place for a moment until the blonde pushed through, pulling wave after wave out of her.

Kara barely felt the bite but it was delivered with enough pressure for her to know Lena had done it. Even as Lena came down Kara didn't stop until she was completely done and there was nothing left to draw out of her. She pulled her fingers out slowly and wiped them on her shorts and then ran that same hand through her sweaty hair to gather it up and pull it off her face and neck to cool down.

"Angry enough for you?"

Collapsed back against the pillow, chest heaving, Lena nodded silently in approval. Her body was starting to ache without the anchoring point of Kara's fingers in her, the mark above the arc reactor more than the rest of them. Even her jaw hurt, not that she'd be telling Kara anytime soon.

After a long minute she managed to pry her eyes open, squinting at Kara through the dark. She was sitting up above her, hand in her hair, giving Lena a clear view of the long lines of her muscles. "Are you willing to sit for my apology?" she asked throatily.

"Depends," Kara murmured, head tilting to the side. It made her hair fall over one shoulder again as she placed her hands on Lena's thighs. Blue eyes took in all the marks she had left, or the ones she could see for the light of the reactor anyway. She felt a little sorry for leaving them...but she also didn't.

Lena pushed herself up onto her elbows, bringing her gaze back up to Kara's face. "On what, darling?" 

She watched Kara trace the marks with her eyes and waited, leaving them blatantly on display for her. If this was all Kara wanted for the night, Lena would give her that. As much as she loved to touch Kara and make her feel as good as Kara so often made her feel, she understood that the loss of control wasn't always feasible. 

"On how sorry you are," Kara answered rather quickly. She was still upset. She knew this apology wouldn't count. She had asked for a pause and the real anger and arguments and apologies would come when she unpaused them, but not just yet. "On how good your apology is."

"Let me show you," Lena sat up, reaching out for Kara. She stopped short of touching her, hand hovering between them.

Kara nodded softly. She thought about staying quiet, staying mad. She broke first, "Be careful. Don't let me hurt you."

Lena pressed her hand flat against Kara's chest, leaning in to brush her lips softly against the bow of Kara's frown, "You've never hurt me in a way I haven't asked you to," she husked, "You're not about to start now."

She gave a push, knowing Kara could easily resist. When Kara laid back, she crowded forward, kissing her way slowly down Kara's jaw and neck, leaving a lingering kiss to where her teeth had sunk in only moments before. In every way that Kara had been rough with her earlier, Lena was soft, pouring in the apology she knew Kara wasn't ready to accept.

Kara hadn't anticipated gentleness. She let Lena move her how she pleased, knowing she could resist if she wanted. The kisses were so soft they made goosebumps pop up all over her exposed skin. Kara sunk her hands into Lena's hair, holding there carefully first and then more and more firm the longer Lena was gentle with her. Kara wasn't ready for softness but Lena seemed determined.

She kept up her languid pace down Kara's collar bone, paying particular attention to where the skin dipped. The tanned skin beneath her tensed as she went, trailing wet, open mouthed kisses between Kara's breasts, only pausing to pull a nipple deep into her mouth. She felt Kara's fingers grip in her hair and gave a moan of approval, flicking the bud in her mouth with her tongue.

Kara's lips opened enough to let out a puff of air sounding like a hiss, before she drew her bottom lip between her teeth. She put some gentle pressure against Lena's head, pulling her in, already wanting more. Her back arched slightly, toes digging into the sheets.

Lena's hands dropped to Kara's hips, pushing at her shorts. She let Kara hold her in place for only a moment, pulling away to continue her path inevitably south. As she went, she pulled the shorts down Kara's legs until they bunched at her ankles and Kara could kick them off. 

She paused as her mouth reached the jut of Kara's hip, leaving a soft bite at the skin there. Lena slowly drug her eyes back up to Kara's face, tipping her head further back into the strong hands still buried in her hair. Her green eyes were dark, lips swollen and red. The earlier desire to go slow was fading, but the pinched expression on Kara's face was enough to calm the racing in her heart. A gentle kiss landed at the crease where Kara's leg met her center, followed by a long, slow drag of her tongue. 

Kara's head rolled back into the bed, blue eyes closing and mouth agape. Something akin to Lena's name slipped out and Kara's fingers tangled themselves deeper into Lena's hair. Kara was tempted to unpause just to let this be her real apology. She made sure to plant her feet against the mattress, keeping her legs apart so she couldn't snap them shut around Lena's head and hurt her on accident.

Lena settled in, looping her arms under Kara's thighs and encouraging her to cant her hips up. She traced the crease of Kara's lips with her tongue, lingering on the wetness that had already gathered there. She pressed in with one broad stripe that ended on Kara's swollen clit, enough pressure to be felt but not enough.

Kara usually never cursed but, "Fuck," was this already the best apology she had ever received. She canted her hips, seeking more of Lena's warm tongue. They bucked up, getting a little of what she wanted. A low moan rolled into the air and Kara resisted the urge to pull Lena's head closer.

Each swipe of her tongue pressed harder, working Kara up slowly and steadily until the hands in Lena's hair were no longer just holding on, but holding steady as Kara's hips started to shift. Lena let her nails drag against the skin of Kara's thighs, latching her lips around Kara's clit. 

She mapped it thoroughly, tracing her tongue along the crease of the hood, over the swollen tip and back again, increasing her pressure as she went. She was so single minded on her task that she hadn't noticed the tickle of static along her back until it zapped, making her moan into Kara's cunt. She could feel strong thighs shaking under her hands and pulled back enough to whisper a wrecked  _ let go, Kara _ , before she was back to it.

" _ Shit _ ," Kara hadn't felt it coming but she had felt the shock leave her hands. Blue eyes opened and they were bright as Kara tore her hands away from Lena's head and fisted them into the sheets. She tore at them before trying to keep still, legs still shaking so she didn't crush Lena's head. She was so close and every swipe of Lena's tongue pushed right up to the edge but Kara's mind held her back.

She already shocked Lena. What if she did it again? What if she hurt her? What if she broke something? What if she shocked her and stopped the arc reactor? What if on top of what if on top of what if. Kara let out a high pitched whine, toes curling. She should stop. "Lena…"

Lena pulled her mouth away regretfully, sitting up and slipping a hand between Kara's legs instead. She was so close it was hard to even get one finger inside. Lena kept it perfectly still, giving Kara time to take a deep breath and calm herself. Lena rested her forehead against Kara's, waiting until Kara looked at her.

"Hey," she said softly, "I've got you, you're okay." Lena dropped a lingering kiss to Kara's lips, "Do you want to stop?"

"No but–" Kara groaned and lowered her head, throwing one of her arms over her eyes. She bit her lip when she felt herself clench around Lena's finger. Her other hand was still twisted in the sheets.

"I shocked you. I don't want–" she groaned again, fist squeezing their blankets tighter. 

"You didn't hurt me," Lena promised, giving her finger an experimental curl. Kara clenched even tighter around her, so she pulled back only to press in again with two. "Honestly," she pressed into her again, curling her fingers as she went. "I kind of liked it."

The blonde's mouth fell open and her hips started to move to meet each of Lena's thrusts. She didn't hurt her. She liked it. She didn't hurt her. She liked it.

Strong arms latched around Lena's shoulders and Kara's fingers pressed into the skin of her back. She lifted her head up enough to kiss her thoroughly, letting her tongue mingle with Lena's before her head fell back onto the bed.

"Please Lee, so close," Kara bit her lip to stifle another moan as she drug her hands down Lena's back.

Lena increased her pace, muscles burning in protest. With each thrust in, she brushed her thumb clumsily over Kara's clit, murmuring encouragement into Kara's ear. "You feel so good, Kara, let go, darling -"

Blunt nails dug into Lena's pale skin as Kara's back arched up off the bed, orgasm hitting like a tidal wave. Lena's name left the blonde's lips more than once while her cunt clenched and fluttered around her fingers. She came down slow, body easing back into the bed. Her toes uncurled. Her arms, however, stayed firmly wrapped around Lena.

Kara tugged her down till they were flush together, the blonde's face hiding in dark hair in the crook of Lena's neck. She was mumbling something, softly, repeating it over and over again until it finally got a little clearer, "I love you."

Lena let herself be pulled, draping herself over Kara comfortably. "I love you, darling. So much." The apology clung at her throat and Lena ignored it stubbornly. She could wait until Kara was ready to hear her. 

Lena would feel all the tension in Kara's body had dissipated, leaving her almost boneless underneath her, save for Kara's arms still wrapped securely around her. The Asgardian fell asleep that way, with Lena's weight a comfort on top of her.

Kara dreamed of high towers made of gold and a glittering glass bridge at the end of the world. It was not splitting apart and wreathed in flames like in her nightmares. The sun was shining, glinting off the towers of a grand castle that stretched towards the sky, and a breeze blew gently through the trees. It was the most peaceful Kara had ever seen the place. Asgard, Lex's notes had called it. A place that used to be her home. A place that plagued her with new memories in the form of dreams and head splitting visions ever since she had touched that hammer.

She dreamed of a woman with soft curls and eyes like her own. Whenever she saw her, Kara was always filled with fondness and awoke with a deeply buried sense of longing. Sometimes it made her chest ache.

Kara woke to late morning light filtering in the windows, a familiar weight absent on top of her, and the faint smell of coffee. She laid there for a moment, just staring at the ceiling, trying so hard to remember the woman's face–her mother's face–but it would not come back. It never did. At least not while she was awake.

She took another big inhale, followed by a sigh, and sat up in the bed, keeping the sheets pulled up around her chest.

"Hope, what time is it?"

"It is ten forty-three in the morning, Miss Kara," Hope replied.

"Where is Lena?"

"Miss Luthor is in the lab. She wants you to know she made breakfast, but you'll need to reheat it."

"Thanks, Hope," Kara pulled herself out of bed and dressed comfortably. It was a Saturday and for once there didn't seem to be anything going on. Yet. There was still probably an argument to be had and any fallout from Lena's proclamation the night before to suffer through but for now, it was peaceful.

Kara padded into the kitchen, smiling immensely when she spotted breakfast on the counter.  _ Waffles _ . She ate all eight of them with her usual sugary coffee plus a whole heap of syrup. Thoughtfully, she washed the dishes when she was done and then carried her half full mug (the one with little boats on it) down into the lab.

Lena was pacing between the cars and the Mark 6, her hair thrown back into a messy bun only made messier by the fact that she pushed her hand through it for what was clearly not the first time. Her other hand held her phone against her ear, and her pale green eyes only narrowed as whoever was on the other line kept talking.

"Well it's too fucking late now, isn't it?" Lena hissed, throwing her free hand out to the side in exasperation. "I understand how it was the  _ wrong thing at the wrong time _ , Director, but what's done is done."

She turned sharply on her heel, facing the doors as Kara opened them. Her face softened in apology, shoulders slumping. "Jess is already on it." She rolled her eyes at whatever was said, "Of course she'll sign an NDA.  _ Goodbye, Director _ ." She punched the off button, clearly cutting off whatever was being said. 

"Good morning, darling," Lena offered a tentative smile. She wasn't sure how long their  _ pause _ from the night before would extend, or how upset Kara would still be at her after a solid night's rest. "Did Hope let you know about breakfast?"

"She did," Kara said as she stepped her way into the lab, having been silent while she listened to Lena yell at Director Jones. She assumed the Director had done his fair share of yelling. The peace from waking up hadn't lasted nearly as long as Kara was hoping for.

" _ Unpause _ . I see I'm not the only one who thought that was a bad idea," the blonde sat on one of the stools by a cluttered workstation, one hand wrapped around the mug, the other in the pocket of her hoodie.

Lena pressed a hand to her forehead, taking a deep breath as she did. She was still reeling from dealing with the director, and to turn around to have to unpack the same thing with Kara immediately after felt like too much. "I'm not disagreeing with you. Either one of you, actually."

"Good, but that's only half the reason I'm upset. So do you want to talk about how you just put yourself in more unnecessary danger or do you want to start with how the entire thing overshadowed the fundraiser?"

"It's not as if the threats on my life have slowed, Kara." Lena tried to infuse her voice with patience, but she knew damn well she fell short of it. "You just don't have to read them in your current position. No matter what track I take with L Corp, it isn't enough for everyone, and the more Luthor Corp weapons we find and remove, the more threats I receive, independent of Iron-Maiden. Apparently, standing aside and letting them be destroyed without recompense is enough to make me a target. At least now it's clear why I haven't made a statement against myself."

"Okay...but now they know it's  _ you _ ," Kara emphasized that point as much as she could and she put the coffee mug on the desk so that she wouldn't accidentally break it. "How much angrier do you think everyone is going to get now. Our address is public record, which, fine, all your suits are here and it only takes you five minutes to get into one and you're basically living with a god, but that doesn't mean that stuff can't still happen. Lex could try something else. Or something like he did before. It's not like you have a  _ replacement _ arc reactor this time because I fried the last one. What happens if someone takes it this time?"

Hope's hourglass on the desk flashed a warning yellow. Lena's eyes darted to it and then back to Kara. "I can make another one. I'll start it today, if you want. I don't -" Lena sighed, the anger bleeding out of her, "I know that I shouldn't have said it, Kara, I know, and I'm  _ sorry _ . I'm sorry that one thoughtless statement overshadowed your event when I know you worked so hard on it, and I'm  _ sorry _ that I put us in danger, again. I just…" 

She reached back and pulled her hair out of its messy bun, desperate to give her hands something to do. "I'm so tired of it, Kara."

"Then you shouldn't have built the stupid  _ fucking _ suit, Lena," Kara shouted and it almost sounded like a crack of thunder. "You're the one who said it was something you had to do! I said let other people handle it, but you insisted."

"Miss Kara, ambient kilo-"

Lena shouted over the AI, cutting her off. "And you're right! Is that what you want to hear, Kara? That you're right, and I was wrong, and it's my fault that we're in this!"

"No! I don't want to be right, I just want you to be safe!" Some of the electrical tools on the desk sparked and Kara groaned even louder and stood up to move away from them, "Nevermind! I don't want to yell!" Hope was probably going to deploy countermeasures any second and Kara needed to calm down.

Hope was flashing red, indicating that Kara's output was dangerously high. Lena knew she should let it go and let Kara calm down, but she was seething. It didn't help that the only person she could really hold at fault was herself.

"Then go, Kara," she said flatly, "I have work to do."

Lena wanted her to go? Fine, she would go. She didn't really know where to go. She couldn't go see Alex, at least not all charged like this. Sam would probably tell the director and then she would end up back in the plexiglass hamster cage. She also didn't want Alex to worry about her. She clearly couldn't even stay in her own damn house because Hope would rat her out in a second if she hadn't already alerted SHIELD to the energy spike.

"Fine. That's all you ever do anyway," Kara said, even though she knew she shouldn't have, and stormed out of the lab, almost literally. Everything in the lab seemed to react, at least a little, as she passed.


	2. Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the love that you have already given this story! We really appreciate it and we love all of you! BUCKLE IN!

Lena couldn't concentrate.

It had been hours since Kara had stomped out of the lab, and only slightly less time since the electronics had stopped zapping her as she picked them up. Hope had helpfully reported ambient energy readings returning to normal, which Lena had figured out herself when the house shook as Kara slammed the front door behind her.

The silence should have made it easier to work. Instead, it was oppressive.

She found herself bouncing between projects. She started a new arc reactor, like she had told Kara she would. The bones of it lay scattered across her work bench, untouched for the last twenty minutes.

Sitting with her back to the bench, her arms crossed over her chest, Lena frowned at the transparent screens in front of her. She had been working on this project off and on for months. It had been buried in Lex's files, unearthed when SHIELD had confiscated them all. Director Jones called it a bifröst, which Lena thought was both pedantic and somehow fitting.

The schematic in front of her depicted a bridge. Lena tipped her head at it, reaching up and swiping to the next page. Really, it was more of an interdimensional portal. It's practical uses would be revolutionary, if she could get it to work.

As it stood, she was on her thirteenth version of it, and it didn't matter how much power she gave it, it couldn't sustain itself. Everytime she powered it up, it would start to spin and generate enough energy to open the smallest rift imaginable, and then collapse. Sometimes catastrophically.

“Miss Luthor, it is time to check your palladium levels.” And then there was that. 

Lena heaved a sigh, opening the bottom drawer of the workstation and digging all the way to the back. She pulled out a small black bag, closed with a zipper. She dumped it out without care for the contents, which turned out to be a sleek silver device, something she had designed after a glucometer. 

She sucked a breath in through her teeth as she pressed the pad of her thumb to the circular indent toward the top, and the little device pricked her skin to take a small blood sample. It chirped cheerily at her, a function Lena couldn’t remember adding to the final design, before it blinked a bright  _ Palladium Level 24% _ . 

“24%, Hope. Record it in the logs. Up from last week.”

“Yes, Miss Luthor.”

Hope popped the chart up on the screens previously holding just the bifrost schematic, showing a steady increase over the last three months. Lena waved the screens away in frustration, turning back to the bench. In the corner of the lab, the portal prototype stood covered under a tarp.

"Incoming call from Agent Arias," Hope informed and patched the call through the speakers in the lab.

" _ Lena...you really stepped in it this time _ ," Sam's voice warned.

"Not you, too." Lena groaned, propping her head up on one hand.

" _ So I guess the Director has already gotten you. You're all over the news. You're in every paper, every tabloid. I should know because I've got at least ten staring me down at my desk. I got a whole earful from Alex about it too so now you're going to get a whole earful from me _ .  _ This is the kind of thing you talk to me about beforehand, so we can handle it. This is the opposite of handled. And I imagine you and Kara got into it too because your house sent us an alert. If you can't keep her in control you know what they're going to do, Lena. This whole thing is a mess. That being said...how do you feel?" _

She sank further onto the desk the more Sam spoke until her forehead was resting against the cool metal. Her breath fogged the surface in front of her. Lena squeezed her eyes shut like she could shut out the whole world.

"Like everything is coming down around my ears. I can't keep this up, Sam."

" _ Talk to me Lena. Use your big girl words to describe your big girl emotions _ ," Sam said light-heartedly. It would be a lot for anyone, but the way she had seemed last night, Lena was fine. Apparently that wasn't the case, " _ What's going on. Talk me through it _ ."

Lena huffed a noncommittal noise she wasn't sure that Hope's microphone would pick up. She didn't know where to start. On paper, last night would have looked like a little blip in an otherwise charmed life. Living through it, on the other hand, felt like trying to hold up a hydraulic press. 

"Kara and I got into a fight this morning," she finally said. "I don't know where she is."

" _ That would explain the 11:30 surge. I assume it was bad? _ " Sam asked, genuinely concerned for her friends.

"It wasn't good," Lena admitted delicately, opening her eyes finally. She pushed herself away from the desk, spinning to face the defunct bifröst again. 

Somehow that just made it worse.

"We both said some things we didn't mean. Or maybe the problem is that we absolutely meant them." She abandoned the desk, opting to pace between her projects. The dark eyes of the Mark 6 seemed to track her, and she firmly put her back to it.

"She still resents that I ever made the suit, and… jesus, Sam, sometimes so do I."

" _ Well that's your own stubborn ass fault if I recall, _ " Sam teased but then a loud sigh came through Hope's speaker after, " _ You made it to destroy all the Luthor Corp weapons caches we find. We can do that. Hell, Lena, give me the WarMachine suit and I can do that. There's got to be more than that, Lena. I don't think you guys would explode like that on each other if it hadn't been building. What's up _ ?"

Lena opened her mouth to deny that there was anything else, but what came out was a hushed, "I think Kara resents  _ me _ ." And from there, it was like the floodgates opened.

"I think it's the house, and this whole life we've built. It all started because of this stupid suit and the obligation that I felt - that I  _ still _ feel, Sam - to get those weapons out of circulation. Sometimes I think that if I could have just let someone else handle it, Kara could have kept on going without ever realizing that her habit of frying electronics was anything more than some strange quirk."

Her voice was steadily growing louder as she paced until it echoed fully off the walls. "And with SHIELD - I'm not calling you a liar, but you promised me that this wouldn't change our everyday lives. SHIELD has me acting as her jailer, and I keep her in the most gilt cage you've ever seen, but at the end of the day, it's still a cage, Sam. She can't get excited about a TV show without the house alerting you that she's generated enough energy to power the city."

There was silence from the other end of the line for several seconds. That was a lot, and granted Sam had expected a lot. She just hadn't expected  _ that _ kind of a lot.

" _ Honestly...we thought having the hammer would calm her down, or help her control it, whatever it is. Not make it worse. She comes in for her testing and she gets these headaches that could power the facility for a month. We shouldn't have let her have it. We thought being in a house instead of our holding box would make it better too. Or at least keep it manageable, but Lena _ ," Sam paused, her voice serious, " _ I don't think she's capable of resenting you. You didn't see her spot you from across the room last night. Have you talked to her about it? About actual feelings? Or just argue this morning? _ "

She rested her hands on the cool top of the Bugatti, glancing at Hope from the corner of her eye like the hourglass were Sam. "What do you think?"

" _ I think you just fight and have crazy sex after. Or maybe before. Doesn't matter, I know I'm right. You need to talk to her, Lena. I'll see what I can work out with the Director about the whole cage vibe, but I can't promise anything. Not while she's...a loaded gun without a safety. _ "

"Don't talk about her like that," Lena sighed, turning to lean her back against the car. "I hate that everyone talks about her like she's some kind of weapon. She's  _ Kara _ , for christ's sake."

" _ I'm sorry, you  _ saw _ her literally just call lightning right out of the sky didn't you? Saw her make a tornado? You had a front row seat. Imagine that, but on accident _ ," Sam said then sighed. This wasn't a battle she was going to win, " _ Just talk to her Lena. I'll see what I can do about the house arrest. Her next session is tomorrow afternoon anyway. You should come too. We all need to have a meeting anyway _ ."

"Great," Lena said drily, "Looking forward to it." She paused, debating on ending the call out of spite. Except, she hadn't heard from Kara in hours, and she knew it was unlikely that she would anytime soon "If… if Kara calls Alex, would you let me know?"

" _ Yeah, of course. I'll text Alex right now and ask. It'll be alright, Lena. Just talk to her when she gets home, okay?" _ Sam asked and waited for faint disgruntled 'okay' in response before hanging up.

A few minutes later she sent a text to Lena.

_ Kara hasn't called, I'm sorry. I'm sure she will be home soon. _

She didn't answer the message, leaving it open on her phone for over an hour. Hunger was what drove her upstairs, but faced with the empty living room with Kara's pile of clothes still draped over the back of the couch… Lena retreated again, this time to her own rarely used office.

It was more utilitarian than Kara's, all sleek lines compared to Kara's coziness. When she'd had it decorated, Kara had complained that it was 'too white' and it 'looked sterile.' At the time, Lena had argued that it was more like a blank canvas and it helped her think.

Now she was more inclined to agree.

Avoiding the overstuffed couch, she went straight for the half full decanter of whiskey in the nook behind her desk. She rarely drank it anymore, finding it was more for show than anything, but it felt appropriate, today.

She was sad, lonely, and worried. Soon, she'd be drunk on top of it.

The thought gave her a grim satisfaction, but she still poured only two fingers into the glass. If - no, when - Kara came home, she didn't want to be a mess.

Settling into the desk chair, Lena tucked her feet up underneath her. The light from the arc reactor glinted off the crystal facets of her glass, and Lena watched it with a dark expression as the shadows outside slowly lengthened. After what felt like an hour, she pulled out her phone and opened a message to Kara, thumb poised over the keyboard.

A quick sip of whiskey burned down her throat, and she closed the phone again, message unwritten. She wasn't sure how many times she repeated the motion or how many times she refilled her glass before she heard a key in the front door.

It was late. Kara knew it was late. She was tired. She just wanted to come home and have things be back to normal... whatever normal was now. As long as it wasn't more yelling and more arguing then she could handle it. What she couldn't handle was Hope's voice in her ears saying 'ambient kilowatt levels have risen' or anything like that. If she even heard the word 'ambient' she was going to lose it all over again.

She took her shoes off so she wouldn't track dirt into the house. She had walked all day. Everywhere. All over. She was careful as she could be with the keys, placing them in the bowl instead of dropping them in.

Kara was afraid to ask the AI where Lena was. Would it be better to go straight to her or just run into her somewhere in the house. Ultimately, it was late, and Kara figured Lena was waiting up for her. She had other times. 

"Hope...where is Lena?"

"I'm here," Lena had made her way carefully out of the office, leaning heavily against the wall of the hallway. She'd abandoned her desk once she heard the door, walking with a decided sway toward the living room.

A quick glance at the decanter told her she'd had more than she'd planned on, and on an empty stomach to boot. 

Kara jumped a little when the voice she expected was replaced by the voice of the person she was looking for. "You could have gone to bed," Kara said lightly and made her way further into the living room before she noticed Lena was standing like a ship docked in choppy water. "You're drunk, Lee. Do you need help upstairs?"

"I can make it," Lena couldn't argue that she wasn't drunk. She'd felt okay curled up in her office, but now that she was standing, it was like the world had turned into a tilt a whirl and she was an involuntary participant. 

Kara watched her sway a little more as if debating before she sighed. Her face was neutral as she moved over to Lena, "Watch your head," she warned and then just scooped her up. She held Lena bridal style and turned around in the hall to go up the stairs. Her arms were like steel beams, keeping Lena up, jostling only softly as Kara made her way upstairs. The blonde didn't stop till she put Lena on the bed, depositing her gently into the mattress.

"Shorts or sweatpants to sleep in?" 

Lena's eyes were shut tight against the nausea of sudden movement. It took her a moment to answer after Kara set her down, and she blinked blearily. "Shorts, please." Kara moved away and she immediately felt the loss. "Kara, I -" She stopped, chewing at her lip. She didn't know what she wanted to say, she just wanted Kara near her.

" _ Pause _ ," Kara said and went into the closet and pulled out some soft shorts, which were actually just boxers that Kara had thought looked like fun because of the pizza design. She brought them back then helped Lena sit up, slowly, careful if she might feel sick.

"Sweater or t-shirt?"

"T-shirt," Lena whispered, focusing on the dancing pizzas on the shorts.

"T-shirt," Kara repeated softly and headed back into the closet. While she was there she went ahead and changed. She came back with a soft shirt for Lena. It was well worn even if it didn't have a design and she brought it over.

"Are you going to need help or can you do it?"

In answer, Lena pulled her shirt off over her head, dropping it unceremoniously onto the floor, bra joining a moment later. For the first time in their relationship, watching Kara change had felt almost like an invasion of privacy, and Lena stuffed her guilt down with everything else.

The shirt was cool against her skin as she pulled it on, soft and a little large. Getting out of her pants proved a little trickier, but after a moment of struggling they joined her discarded shirt, traded up for the pizza shorts. She held her arms out wide, still sitting on the bed. "How do I look? Ready for the boardroom?"

Kara stopped and took the time to look her up and down, smile pulling up at the corner of her mouth. At the words she actually laughed. It was small and light but it was genuine and she just nodded, "Intimidating." She reached and turned off the light and then went back to Lena.

The blonde leaned down and kissed Lena's forehead, "It's time for bed, baby. Lay down."

Lena reached up to grip the front of Kara's shirt, holding her there. "I know we're  _ paused _ , but Kara, I'm so sorry." Her voice cracked on the words, her fingers loosening on Kara's shirt. 

Kara sighed. Saying it now defeated the entire purpose of the  _ pause _ . Lena never was good at rules though, being drunk probably didn't help. 

"Say it tomorrow when we are unpaused and you haven't had a whole fifth of whiskey and I might believe you," Kara kissed her forehead again and then pulled herself out of Lena's grip to go to her side of the bed.

She counted to five slowly once, and then twice before finally lowering herself into the bed. She knew Kara was still mad, and there was a point to be made that apologizing after drinking was maybe not the best course. But Lena bristled all the same, the anger that had mostly abated rising back in a flash.

Adjusting the pillow, Lena chanced a glance at Kara, who seemed to be making an extra effort not to look at her. She set her jaw and made to roll away before she remembered. "Sam wants me to come in with you tomorrow."

"Why?" She asked it quietly, tired. She just wanted to sleep so that today would be over. In reality the day had ended almost an hour ago and it was now, in fact, Sunday, but that didn't count. Sam had never asked her to come before and honestly the situation they were in did not need Lena looking at her in a glass box for five hours.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Lena twisted her fingers into the pillow case, burrowing deeper. "Goodnight, Kara."

Kara settled in with a sigh. Lena sounded so sad. Like a kicked dog in the rain. The blonde shut her eyes, trying to will sleep to come faster but it didn't. She chewed the inside of her lip. Kara opened her eyes and rolled over. She shifted and scooted closer until the front of her was pressed up against Lena's back. A strong arm came around and held her. She was probably about to regret this but, "...  _ unpause _ ."

Lena sagged, letting out a breath that sounded like a sob. "Are you sure? Because I don't want to make you…" Her hands wrapped around Kara's forearm, holding on tight like she was afraid Kara would let go.

"I'm sure, Lena," Kara answered softly and kissed the back of her head, taking the time to smell her hair. "I'm sorry for what I said and for coming back so late. I'm sure I worried you."

"I'm so sorry I yelled at you, and told you to go. I wasn't," Lena swallowed hard, squeezing her eyes shut against the prick of tears, "I wasn't sure you were going to come back. You didn't check in with Alex and you were so mad when you left, and Kara, I  _ know  _ that I was wrong last night. I know. You're right to be mad and I just -" the rush of words cut off in a sniffle.

"I love you," before she said anything else, she had to say that. She  _ needed _ to say that. "I am always going to come back. Even if I'm mad or upset, because I love you. And this is our home." Kara's arm gave a reassuring squeeze.

"Alex would have just worried...I also forgot my phone anyway so... that's my bad. I'm sorry I was so worked up. It just scares me so much to think about anything happening to you."

Lena turned over to face Kara, her shirt twisting around her middle. Her hands found their way up to Kara's cheeks, free of their usual glasses and cupped them. Her green eyes were serious, brow furrowed, "Nothing is going to happen to me, Kara. I am always going to be right here with you."

Kara brought her hand up to her face and placed it over Lena's, holding her there and finding comfort in the touch and Lena's words. Warm lips found Lena's in the dark as Kara kissed her softly and pulled back again. "Promise?"

"Promise."

_____

Lena did her best to avoid SHIELD headquarters on a normal day. The building was imposing, for all that it was supposed to be discreet, and now, with her hand clasped in Kara's and the report for her most recent deployment tucked under her arm, it felt even worse than normal. It was probably the reality of having to face Director Jones's wrath face to face that had her filled with dread.

"Are you sure we have to?" She asked Kara quietly as they were cleared through security. 

"I can just take the report for you. You can leave if you want and I'll just tell you what the meeting is about when I get home," Kara suggested after giving Lena's hand a reassuring squeeze. She knew Lena didn't want to be there. She didn't want to come, even on a good day. She also knew Lena would power through. Kara didn't think she would particularly enjoy watching her testing. The blonde was nervous for it. She didn't want to worry Lena more than she already had, and Kara was certain it had already been a lot. 

Once through security, they knew the way pretty well. They did have their own rooms in the facility but they were small and undecorated since they never stayed there. Kara didn't even bother, just pulled Lena right to the elevator to head to the lab. In a backpack slung over her shoulder, she had Mjolnir. Couldn't just open carry something like that out on the streets. It would draw too much attention. 

Before the elevator reached the right floor, Kara squeezed Lena's hand again, "You don't have to watch if you don't want to, Lena. I know you don't like it. I don't want you to get upset."

"I'm staying with you," Lena said stubbornly, returning the squeeze to Kara's hand. She had put this off long enough, she thought. 

The report crinkled under her arm, a noisy reminder that it had been due the day before. Add it to the list of things, she thought wryly. As little as she wanted to be here, Lena knew Sam's gentle suggestion would turn into a mandate by the time the Director heard about it. There would be no way Kara could bring her the cliff notes for the meeting. 

Besides, she was Lena Luthor. Since when did she skip a meeting just because it was uncomfortable?

The elevator dinged their arrival, the doors rattling open. Kara led them out, down the familiar hallway to the lab. Lena suppressed a snort. Labs were usually her favorite place in any building. This one made her want to tear the building down.

"Miss Danvers, right on time," Walter –Doctor Walter Willard– greeted as she and Lena came through the doors, "If you'll go ahead and head inside we will take your baseline readings today before starting."

"Okay," Kara answered and squeezed Lena's hand. As she let go, she planted a soft kiss on the woman's cheek and then went into the plexiglass box. She was anxious, because Lena was here for one, and for two, because she just did not enjoy these days in general. But she had signed a contract so Kara would do what was required of her.

She sat on the cot and waited as a lab tech came inside with her and hooked her up. Three nodes on her head: two on her temples and one on her forehead. Two along her arms and one on the back of each of her hands. He gave a thumbs up to someone standing by the monitor outside as he left. The scientist pushed a button and the plexiglass door began to close until it locked into place.

"Miss Luthor, Agent Arias informed me that you would be joining us today. Would you like to come and see?" Dr. Walter gestured to the monitor as readings began to come in.

"Your base is a little higher today Miss Danvers."

"Sorry."

"No, that is alright. It is helpful. On a scale of one to ten, how in control do you feel at this moment?"

"Nine," Kara answered solemnly.

"Would you like to ask the questions for us?" Dr. Walter asked and passed Lena a chart and a pen.

Lena gripped the edges of the clipboard, scanning quickly through the first page. She glanced at Kara, who gave her a little nod, and cleared her throat. When she spoke, it was with calculated control. 

"How would you rate your control since your last visit?"

Kara swallowed hard and thought about the scale. She wanted to lie, because Lena was here, but that would skew the data and was wrong.

"Four."

"How many incidents have you had since your last visit?" Lena's lips thinned. She could think of several in the last 48 hours.

Well, there was the storm, Lena obviously knew that one. There had also been two behind the scenes of the fundraiser involving some speakers. There was the headache. There was their whole argument yesterday. There were more that Kara didn't want to mention.

"Eleven."

"On a scale of one to ten, how effective were the coping mechanisms that you have in place?"

"Seven."

Usually they were a ten, but the last couple of days had been particularly trying.

The readings on the monitor steadily fluctuated, but were mostly rising at a slow rate.

She was gripping the clipboard so hard she was sure she'd break it. The image of Kara, her sweet, patient Kara, sitting in a clear box hooked up to more wires than most computers answering asinine questions wouldn't be something she'd forget anytime soon. She glanced down at the clipboard, then incredulously back up at Dr. Walter. "Is this really necessary?" She gestured at the next question,  _ how likely are you to hurt yourself or others? _

"I'm afraid it is Miss Luthor. Self assessment is an important part of the process," Dr. Walter said.

Kara didn't need to hear the next question to know what it was. She always hated this one.

"On purpose, zero. Accidentally…" Kara swallowed thickly, "Eight."

Dark hair swished as Lena jerked her head around to look at Kara, eyes wide. Scientifically, she understood the necessity for the question, but she was no scientist at all if she couldn't recognize her own bias. She handed the clipboard silently back to Dr. Walter, shooting Kara an apologetic look.

Kara half smiled, trying to send Lena some comfort from afar. If she wasn't honest then she would probably never figure this out, and she desperately wanted it figured out.

Walter took the clipboard back and handed it to someone else who went to log the answers. He turned back to the monitor and checked the readings and then went over to the box, "Alright Miss Danvers. Last time you said you were having some headaches. How many have you had since then?"

"Five."

"That's up three from last time. On a scale of one to ten, how bad are they?"

"Ten."

"That's also up from your previous seven."

Kara sighed and leaned over, propping her head up in her hands, elbow on her knees. She already knew it was bad. It wasn't like she needed a reminder. She just wanted them to stop.

"Okay. What we are going to try to do today is to induce one so we can get some readings. From there we can figure out how to ease them off or stop them altogether."

"Okay…"

"I'm sorry, you're going to  _ what _ ?" Lena pulled Dr. Walter aside, her voice a quiet hiss. She was very glad she was not the one hooked up to any kind of monitor, because she could feel the angry acceleration in her heart rate. It was splashing its way across her cheeks in a hot flush.

She had never liked Dr. Walter, not from the first moment she'd met the man, but she had never thought him to be a complete idiot until this very second. "Are you completely unaware of what those headaches do to her? Do you have  _ any _ idea how hard we work to keep them from happening?"

"To my recollection they do cause intense pain. But also incredible electrical surges, which, left uncontrolled, could turn your house or any square block of the city into a dead zone. She can affect nothing in the box. We have also upgraded it since the last time she broke it. It will contain the surge and we can get some readings and see it in action. To see is to understand and there is much about Miss Danvers we do not understand. She is not like the Asgardians from your brother's data. She is different." Walter said calmly.

"It's okay, Lena," Kara called softly. She could see how angry she was from there, "I want them to stop. I don't want to hurt anyone."

"Miss Danvers has also included that these headaches sometimes come with memories she has forgotten. They too could help give us insight. You may not like it Miss Luthor, but if you cannot cooperate then I will have to have you removed."

Lena arched an eyebrow at him, crossing her arms in front of her chest in a blatant  _ I dare you _ motion. "By all means," she took a step back, pasting a polite smile on her face. "Since I obviously can't stop you."

She turned to face Kara again, her jaw set in a stiff line. "When we get home," Lena swallowed hard, her voice softening, "I will make you any damn thing you want. Even if it means I'm making crepes at two in the morning."

Kara smiled, "Maybe we could just order potstickers?" She suggested and took a deep breath.

"Alright Miss Danvers. We are going to begin," Walter said and nodded to a lab tech by a panel of computers. He turned a knob and the group waited.

Kara felt nothing and felt fine so after a few minutes Walter gave a signal and the knob was turned again. The readings on the monitor began to rise, but only slightly.

The blonde shifted, starting to feel a little uncomfortable. She sat back on the cot and looked at Lena before deciding that was a bad idea and looked elsewhere.

The knob was signaled again and this time Kara squinted. Her head was starting to throb.

Walter held up a hand signal that told the lab tech to wait. "Miss Danvers, on a scale of one to te–"

"Six," Kara answered quickly and rubbed her eyes, which were shut. She could see the golden towers of a castle.

"Turn it down. It's starting," Walter said and the tech turned the knob all the way back down but the readings on the monitor continued to rise, quicker now.

She hated this, every second of watching Kara in pain was misery. Lena curled her fingers into the elbow of her coat, gripping the material tight. She wished Sam were here, or hell, she'd even take Alex, if it meant she didn't have to stand next to Dr. Walter the Moron and watch Kara suffer.

The first sparks started in her hands as Kara held her head. The readings began to skyrocket and if they had been at home the lights would have been flickering like crazy. The data was coming in fast until the computer started to glitch.

Mjolnir rocked in the bookbag beside Lena.

The blonde leaned over, hands digging into her scalp. She groaned. Someone was saying her name.

Kara.

Kara.

_ Kara _ .

_ "Kara! It's time to come inside. It's time for bed, darling. You can play more tomorrow _ ."

"Miss Danvers, on a scale of one to ten, how bad is this headache compared to others?"

Kara didn't answer him. She was a bright blue eyed child running inside from being up in a tree, headed into the arms of a woman with those same blue eyes.

"Miss Danvers?"

" _ Ten _ !"

"Kara," Lena's whisper was a broken thing, and the hammer next to her bumped against her leg. She glanced down at the unassuming bag, feeling a sudden kinship with it. It seemed like Mjolnir, like her, wanted nothing more than to be next to Kara to help take the pain away.

But they couldn't, both stuck outside, forced to watch her struggle.

_ "Momma, why can't I make the lights like papa?" _

_ "You can darling. You just need Mjolnir to help you for now, while you are learning. It helped your father too when he was little like you." _

_ "Really?!" _

_ "Yes, one day you won't even need it at all. Everything you need is right here," her mother gently laid a finger on her chest, "but mjolnir will still come. You can always use it. It just amplifies what is already inside. _ "

The bag shook again. Kara was laying down on the cot, curled up in as close to a ball as she could get, eyes screwed shut. The computers began to glitch more as the readings rose. 

"Doctor Willard?" The lab tech called and the doctor turned to look at the screen.

"Oh my. We may have underestimated–"

The bag by Lena's feet started to slide towards the plexiglass box. Inside, on the cot, Kara had one hand on her head and the other was stretched out, open. Waiting.

The bag shot off and the hammer ripped out of it and smashed into the plexiglass. It cracked once, splintering off, and then the hammer broke through, making a hole. The computers and lights inside the lab began to spark and go haywire. 

Kara's hand wrapped around the handle and held on tight, Mjolnir in hand. The readings began to die down.

_ May have underestimated. _ Lena didn't bother holding back her snort of derision, turning toward Dr. Walter, "I hope whatever data you collected out of that was worth it. Get her out of there."

She turned back to Kara, back ramrod straight. Behind her, she could hear lab techs scurrying. For their sakes, she hoped it was frantic movement to get Kara out of that godforsaken box before she did it herself. Lena watched Kara's breathing slow and even out, her fingers gripped tight around Mjolnir's leather wrappings. She raised her eyebrows at Kara in a clear question,  _ are you alright? _

Kara nodded softly when her eyes focused enough to see Lena. The techs hurried to try to get the equipment to work again and slowly the door started to slide open. Kara sat up, hand still holding on tight while her other ran through her hair. Her head still pounded but it was mostly over. They never lasted long. Kara didn't know what she would do if they were longer than a few minutes.

"Can we make sure the hammer is  _ inside _ next time," Doctor Walter scolded his assistants who were still running around and trying to get the equipment to recover. He wasn't happy about having to fix the box  _ again _ .

Lena bristled at the idea of next time, but she was already taking a step forward as Kara stood from the cot, a tech pulling wires from her. Lena stopped herself short. She wanted to rush to Kara but she was hyper aware of where they were and how many eyes were on them. The last thing she wanted was to give Dr. Walter an unintentional data point. 

Once the last wire was gone Kara knew they couldn't read anything else. She went straight to Lena and put Mjolnir down and then hugged her tight, arms firm around her. She was a little sweaty but Lena would be able to tell from her slowed breathing that she was calming down. Kara hadn't wanted Lena to see all of this. She didn't want to worry her more than necessary but she was so very happy to have her here now at the end once it was over.

"Oh, did I miss the show already?" Sam said as she stepped into the lab and then frowned, seeing the disarray of the room, "Good gracious. Walter, I thought you said you had things under control in here?"

"There were some miscalculations…" Walter confessed.

"Miscalculations." Lena repeated, the word dripping in disdain. She stepped back from Kara, keeping one arm tucked tight around her waist. "If he had listened, there wouldn't have been any  _ miscalculation _ ."

"Let me guess. Your suggestion was to not test it in the first place?" Sam asked, already knowing the answer and leveled Lena with a stare. "We felt the surge in the defense room. The whole thing is rebooting."

"And that was mild compared to the potential," Doctor Walter cut in.

"Don't talk about me like I'm not standing here please. I can hear you," Kara sighed and left Lena's embrace just long enough to lean back over and pick up Mjolnir off the ground.

"I'm sorry, Kara," Sam apologized and sighed, "We all just want to help you. Are you okay?"

"Better now," Kara answered, although she still felt tired, dull throb in her head not completely gone.

In an effort not to seethe, Lena slipped her hand back into Kara's free one, tangling their fingers tightly together. It was a wonder Walter hadn't demolished the entire building, running half thought out tests like that. If that was his idea of lab safety, Lena shuddered to think of anything he might come up with off the cuff.

"I assume you're here to take us to the meeting," she finally managed, breaking herself out of the downward spiral of disparaging Dr. Walter. If she thought she had a leg to stand on, she'd file a complaint with the Director.

"I am," Sam said, "if everything can get brought back up that is." The agent glanced at Doctor Walter who was busy trying to get his lab back in order.

"Come on, it's important either way. It might actually interest you, Lena," Sam taunted and motioned for her friends to follow her.

She led them back to the elevator and up several floors before it opened up to the office level. The lights at least seemed to be normal. Sam escorted them into a large meeting room. The Director was already there, watching over someone new who was messing with the computers, clearly attempting to bring them back online.

Alex was already there too and Kara smiled when she saw her, feeling a lot better now that both Alex and Lena were present. She wondered if Sam had told her what testing meant and from the gaze Sam was avoiding, she guessed not.

"It's not that easy!" The man was saying, waving his hands around as he tried to explain the connections to the director. His mousy brown hair was mussed, like he'd been running his hands through it, but he visibly cowered under Director Jones's cold stare. "Uh, it's not that easy,  _ sir _ . The system is overloaded. It's not like I can just turn it off and turn it back on and it'll magically fix everything."

Lena gave Kara's fingers a quick squeeze before she disentangled herself, crossing the room to interrupt before the Director could ruin this kids day. "I think I can help," she gave them both her most charming, unassuming smile that Jones didn't buy for a second.

"Get it fixed, Miss Luthor, Agent Schott. I want this running five minutes ago."

She rolled her eyes at him as he left, turning her attention to Agent Schott who was staring at her, mouth comically wide open.

"You -"

"Me," Lena prompted, pointing at herself. "Lena. Also Iron-Maiden, and-"

"The CEO of L Corp!"

"Because that is somehow more impressive than being Iron-Maiden," Sam quipped and chuckled. She jabbed Alex lightly at her joke, hoping for some backup.

"It  _ is _ !" Winn said too loudly as Alex laughed. Lena smiled benignly, trying to hide how amusing she found the whole thing. "Do you know how many medical advancements are piloted by L Corp per year? And how much renewable energy is generated solely because of L Corp's research? And -"

"While we are all interested and proud of Miss Luthor's many and varied achievements," Director Jones interrupted from across the room, "Don't you have a computer to be fixing?"

Winn slouched like a kicked puppy and Alex elbowed him genially, giving Lena a conspiratorial grin of her own. Lena returned it with a surprised smile, not used to being on the receiving end of any expression from Alex outside of a glare.

"Alright, Winn, was it?" She asked, gesturing at his lopsided name tag, he nodded enthusiastically, "I'm sure you have tried turning it off and on again, but have you tried rerouting the power from the main banks to the back ups?"

His eyes widened as did his smile and as he sucked under the desk to perform the necessary adjustments he said, "I have not! That's a  _ brilliant _ idea!" He picked his head out again, hands still working underneath and looked at both Sam and Alex and mouthed the words, " _ She's amazing _ !" Before disappearing again. 

After a moment the computer began to reboot and he shot up, typing furiously and all the screens behind them lit back up to project some code. He sorted through it handily and new information began to pop up on the screens. Calculations, charts, prints that appeared to be a tunnel and a digital globe with red marked points at various places on the map.

"This is what we need to talk about," Sam started and looked at Lena. She already knew without a doubt that the other woman would recognize the graphs at least. "Winn?"

"Ah," he cleared his throat, " _ yes _ ." He straightened himself up from the ground and situated his shirt, "this is an Einstein-Rosen bridge! More commonly referred to as a wormhole. Which, as we know, is a bridge between two points in space-time. Our radars have been picking up strange and increasing numbers of rifts in our quadrant of Earth over the last few months. At first we thought it was just a fluke but then they kept happening," he pointed to the digital rotating globe on the screen, "Each dot indicates where one of these rifts has occurred. The energy in these locations is amplified and if it is high enough," he reached out and pressed a key. The red dots on the map disappeared and some green ones in some of the same locations appeared instead, "The rifts open, into portals or a wormhole. Readings from the other side vary, but it has been determined that they do not all lead to the same place–"

As Agent Schott continued to talk Kara's headache began to come back. She kept her breathing even and measured and it did not worsen terribly. She didn't want to ruin the presentation; however, she  _ remembered _ something. Her mind latched onto one word Winn had first used. A  _ bridge _ .

"A  _ bifröst _ ."

"Hm? Oh, yes I suppose so. The mechanics are the same. It is supposedly a machine that can force these rifts open anywhere from one place, and make a bridge to another. Although one would have to have the proper coordinates and an incalculable level of energy required to force one open would be–"

"Agent Schott," Sam nudged gently.

"Yes, so sorry. As I was saying–"

Winn continued to talk and explain about the situation which seemed to be arising around them but Kara wasn't paying any attention. If rifts like this were forming and some even opening up, it could mean there was a bifröst out there already and the only one she knew of was in Asgard. She remembered the glittering rainbow glass bridge. She had walked on it. She had been there. Maybe...Asgard had survived somehow. Maybe they were using the bifröst. Maybe one of those rifts opened up that led there.  _ Maybe she could go home _ .

Lena listened to Winn's explanation with half an ear. She was familiar with the Einstein-Rosen bridge concept, more familiar with it as the bifröst from Lex's notes, and didn't need the refresher on how they worked (or didn't work, as the case may be). She was more interested in Kara's reaction to it. She hadn't filled Kara in about her own prototype in the lab, only saying that it would be groundbreaking should she ever get it to work when Kara asked.

Watching her face now, Lena felt justified in her desire to wait, if only for a little longer.

It was hope, clear as day across Kara's face. Hope, and longing and Lena knew there was not a damn thing she'd be able to do to keep Kara on this side of the bridge once one inevitably opened. A quick glance at Alex told her that her sister had reached the same conclusion.

Once the bifröst opened, they would lose Kara to whatever was on the other side.

She twisted her fingers in her lap, out of sight. The Director already knew about the project, it had been at his behest that she'd started it. Sam she was sure had an inkling. She couldn't take the risk that someone would bring it up to Kara before she could.

"The problem isn't the level of energy required to open a rift, Agent," she interrupted, "It's maintaining the level of energy to sustain it."

"Right,  _ right _ . I see how that could be an issue. It would take an incredible amount to open it alone, but to keep it open would require a constant feed of that same amount and at the rate it consumes…" Winn was doing calculations in his head, "It's too much. Even an arc reactor the size of town hall couldn't generate enough to keep it open for more than a handful of seconds, and the reactor is one of the biggest energy producing mechanisms you've invented!"

"It keeps it open for exactly 10.5 seconds before it collapses." Lena shot Kara a glance before turning back to Winn. "Well, 10.5 is the longest I've left it open before it starts to destabilize and I shut it down. I imagine it would only last moments longer."

"I was wondering when I'd get an update on that project," Director Jones interjected from the other side of the table.

All Kara heard was that Lena had a bifröst that worked for ten seconds and hadn't told her. Ten seconds was absolutely enough time for someone to at least  _ look _ to see where it went, surely. That was irrational, Kara also knew. For it to be safe it would need to be open longer, that much was obvious. Also stable. But Lena hadn't told her.

She had listened to Kara tell her about her nightmares many nights in the wee hours of the morning. Listened to her talk about some of her memories after her headaches. She knew omission wasn't necessarily lying but Kara felt a little like she had been lied to.

"Ten seconds! That's incredible!" Winn beamed, eyes shining with possibilities. "If we could study the rifts, particularly the ones that have opened all the way, then we could determine the amount of energy required to sustain it for longer periods of time and thereby determine how to generate it!"

Lena could see the storm brewing in Kara's face and found herself tensing in anticipation for its landing. She'd always known this revelation wouldn't go well, but it had never been up to her when the project was revealed. Clearly, this meeting was a blanket invitation, and she would have been foolish to let the opportunity for Kara to hear it from her slide by.

Winn was still talking, his enthusiasm for the subject unwaning even through the pinched faces of his audience. Lena smoothed her hands over nonexistent wrinkles in her slacks, smiling politely at Winn and trying to pretend like Kara wasn't staring a hole into the side of her head.

"I'd be happy to transfer you the data," Lena found herself saying, ignoring Alex moving in the corner of her eye.

She was leaning over toward her sister, "Breathe, Kar," Alex whispered, putting one hand on Kara's arm.

She  _ was _ breathing. She was just breathing too heavy. Or maybe she was breathing too fast. Either way it wasn't even and it wasn't calming. She shut her eyes, holding onto the armrests of the chair, letting Alex's touch keep her grounded.  _ In, out. In, out. In, out. Inoutinoutinout _ –

There was the slightest _ crunch _ sound in a lull in Winn's never ending stream of bifröst word vomit. 

Kara put her hands in her lap, flexing her fingers under the table where no one but Alex could see them. Sam leaned forward just enough to see the mangled armrest and then sat back with a sigh. She stole a glance at Lena, looking sympathetic.

The meeting droned on with little input from anyone but Winn, culminating in the need to gather more information about the rifts and to generally be aware of their existence. Lena found herself dreading the end of it, knowing it would leave her with an irate Kara and a lot of explaining to do. The inevitable ending came, the Director taking her report without a word, and Lena found herself without anything to occupy her hands.

Almost unwillingly, she looked at Kara, who was giving Alex their customary goodbye hug. It looked to be a little more intense than usual, a whispered conversation happening at rapid fire between them. A tall shadow appeared over her shoulder and Lena shook her head stiffly.

"Don't even say it, Sam."

"Well, if I was going to say it, it would be don't beat yourself up," Sam looked at her pointedly. She  _ knew _ Lena, "It's not your fault. Hell, I didn't even know. It's not up to us what we can talk about and what we can't."

"I doubt Kara will see it that way."

"Then it sounds to me like you need to have a  _ con-ver-sa-tion _ ," Sam dragged the word out for her so hopefully Lena would get the message this time. She hated to see two of her best friends having trouble like this and knowing that one of those friends was her girlfriend's sister. It made it all particularly difficult to witness.

Lena shot her the  _ I have two PhD's, don't talk down to me _ look, folding her arms in front of her chest. "I know. Every time I think we're getting to a place where we can have one, something like this comes up."

"Look, you'll get there. Things do take time, but you have to talk them out," Sam said quickly and looked over to Alex who was giving her  _ the look _ . "I've got to go. I'm about to get an earful too.  _ Talk to her _ ," Sam said and gave Lena's shoulder a squeeze before she shifted and made her way towards Alex.

Kara seemed to be waiting outside the meeting room for Lena, silently brooding.

The door swung quietly shut behind her, and Lena chanced a glance up at Kara's face. Her usually cheerful expression was traded in for a deep frown, blue eyes dark and troubled. Her brow was furrowed so deeply the skin between them had crinkled. Lena had the delirious urge to touch it.

"Hi," she said quietly, stopping just short of brushing Kara with her arm.

"Hi," Kara answered and pushed off the wall, "Can we please just go home? I'm exhausted."

"Of course." They made it to the car in silence, Kara sliding into the driver's seat without coming around to open Lena's door. It was a little thing, but it stung like a slap. Lena let herself into the passenger seat, buckling herself in with carefully measured movements.

Kara drove in silence, holding it in and not wanting to say anything in the car. They didn't need to have an accident on top of everything else. She waited till they were in the garage and had both stepped out.

"You literally made a replica of the thing that dropped me on this planet when I was only eight years old and then  _ didn't tell me _ about it?"

"I wasn't allowed to tell anyone about it," Lena shut the door carefully, making sure there was no way it could be interpreted as a slam. "I have wanted to tell you about it every day since it was assigned to me, but I  _ couldn't, _ Kara."

"Well can you show me now?" Kara asked, blue eyes looking at her expectantly. The edges were pink with weariness. It was easy to see that she was truly tired, but she was also desperate.

Lena bit her lip, nodding slowly. "Of course," she rounded the car, leading Kara to the hulking portal in the corner. The tarp came off with a flourish, landing in a pile on the floor.

It was large, rising in two twin half crescents, the theory being that they would contain the rift energy. So far, she hadn't managed to stabilize a rift to get one to size, so they remained untested. "I haven't been able to give it enough energy to sustain a rift for longer than a few seconds, like I said before. It needs more power to maintain the rift but the amount of energy it consumes overloads the core."

"So... you need a stronger core? And a more consistent energy supply? I'm the best battery you have. I can feed it if you get a core that will work," Kara said, sure of herself. She had done it for Lena before. How different could this be, really?

"I don't want to keep treating you like a battery," Lena sighed, "Besides, I have no idea how much energy you'd need to put out or for how long."

"Only one way to find out. I can do it if I have Mjolnir. I can channel through it. That will help," Kara said, like that would solve the problem.

"Kara, what if it overloads? I would have to start from scratch, again!" Lena rubbed a hand over her forehead. She didn't have a reason Kara would accept for not letting her power the portal, none that wouldn't start a fight, and that was the last thing she wanted. It felt like they had done nothing but fight for days. "I just need to find a way for it to self sustain."

"I won't overload it, I promise. I'll be careful," Kara pushed.

Lena started to shake her head, slowly at first and then a little more forcefully. "I can't. I know you'd be careful," she dared to reach out, touching Kara's forearm, her eyes pleading the blonde to understand, "It needs to run on it's own. It needs to be stable. I promise, as soon as I get it working, you'll be the first to know. Before SHIELD, even."

Kara's whole form seemed to fall some, to shrink. Her shoulders slumped forward. She lost all her determination and just nodded, finally looking as tired as she felt. She was so close she could almost touch it. If it would only  _ work _ .

"Okay…"

Cautiously, Lena pulled Kara to her, wrapping her in a loose hug. "I'm sorry, darling. I know how important it is."

_____

  
  


After an unusually exhausting weekend, Kara decided it was best if she just had a day to decompress at home. She could still take care of most of Lena's assistant work from home (since Lena had fired her last one not two weeks prior) and do the majority of her own primary job as well. Staying at home lowered the risk she would have another headache in a place less equipped to handle her...surges.

It also gave her and Lena some time apart. It has been a strange weekend for them. Their disagreements weren't usually so heated or serious. A day apart could distract them and hopefully when Lena got home they could return to some normalcy.

Kara knew a lot of it was her own fault. The headaches were making her over irritable and she tried very hard not to be. Her head just felt like it was being split open over and over again. She could only remember bits and pieces of her old life, which was frustrating. She couldn't hardly control her powers. She barely understood why she had them and other Asgardians in Lex's research seemed to be just... _ normal _ . It had to have something to do with her parents but she couldn't remember them and she didn't know how to use Mjolnir effectively. Only a vague memory about how it was supposed to help somehow. It wasn't. It only had seemed to make things worse ever since she called it to her in that warehouse.

Kara took off her tortoise shell glasses and laid them on her desk, pinching the bridge of her nose with her eyes squeezed shut. Thinking about it didn't seem to help. She was supposed to be reading through Lena's official announcement statement from Jess to make sure it was suitable, which was really  _ not _ what she wanted to be doing at all. They had talked about it but the issue only felt half resolved. Half was better than none though and Kara was willing to let it lay, at least until any actual downfalls presented themselves. It was only Monday. There was yet still time for it.

She signed off from the computer a little after lunch, needing a break. Her office chat box was set to 'away' and Kara briefly wondered how long it would take Lena to notice, if she noticed at all. She did have a booked up day today.

With the intent to return and start work on a new fundraiser project she had been brewing up, Kara left her office and padded down the stairs to the kitchen to finally rustle up some lunch. They had ordered pizza and in an uncharacteristic display, Kara had only eaten three slices of a single pizza and not three whole pizzas themselves. She pulled the cardboard box from the fridge and slapped as many slices onto a plate as she could manage and popped it in the microwave.

She ate at the kitchen counter, scrolling through her phone and tv on behind her at the same time. It was just on Netflix, some show she had seen about a hundred times. Just something to tune out so she didn't have to listen to silence. Hope hadn't needed to warm her about anything, which was honestly probably the longest she had gone without hearing the AI all weekend. It let Kara feel like she could actually experience  _ some _ of her emotions for once. The weaker ones.

"Miss Kara, ambient kilowatt levels are increasing," Hope came through the speakers in the kitchen.

_ Spoke too soon. _ "Come on, Hope. I'm not even doing anything," Kara dropped her phone face down onto the counter and turned to look at the little glowing hourglass. Hope was flashing a soft yellow.

"Energy levels are rising regardless. I am only doing as authorized so that you have the opportunity to perform your own countermeasures before I must alert SHIELD," Hope said helpfully. Kara had a mind to reply sarcastically if she thought it would help.

Kara groaned and Hope flashed a little brighter. "I'm literally just sitting here! Can I not just sit in my  _ own _ house?!"

"Kilowatt levels have risen again. I am only doing as authori–"

Kara didn't feel a headache coming on, but Hope was probably about to give her one. "Where is the energy, Hope? Because it's not me."

"Levels are highest in the lab."

"Well, I'm in the kitchen. I'm not even in the lab," Kara sighed and got up. She crossed over into the living room and went down some stairs, through the garage door and into the lab.

"You are in the lab."

"Well, yes  _ now _ I am," Kara rolled her eyes and walked around the cars. Nothing seemed to be amiss. As she made it into the actual lab section the hair on her arms stood up. The room felt charged and for a second Kara had to take stock to tell if it really _ was _ her. She couldn't feel a difference. She was no more agitated than normal.

"It's not me, Hope."

"Are you certain? Energy levels suggest–"

" _ Yes _ , Hope. I like to think I can tell what my own energy feels like."

Nothing appeared to be on. Nothing looked like it was on the fritz. None of it seemed to be out of the ordinary or reacting in a way that Kara was used to. She went around to the back and felt like she walked straight through an electrical wall. The space around her was wavy and opaque and Kara stepped back and out of it.

"I think...I found the problem.”

At the far end through the energy field the prototype bifröst had somehow powered on.  _ And it was working _ .

A small circular rift in space-time had opened between the pillars Lena had constructed to hold it and was steadily getting bigger. Kara kept out of the energy shift, unsure of what to do. Lena had said it wasn't ready, that it wasn't stable. Kara was by no means an expert, but it didn't  _ appear _ to be unstable. In fact, it was growing quite quickly.

Kara counted the seconds off in her head. Fifteen... twenty...thirty-five. It kept growing till it reached the pillars and stopped. The bifröst was open. Kara didn't know how long for, or where it went but there  _ was _ the possibility that it led to Asgard, somewhere she could get answers that she desperately needed. Somewhere she could get help.

It was a half-baked idea, as good ones tended to be. Just a peek wouldn't hurt. Just to see. She could tell Lena and they could celebrate and the Director would be happy that they had gotten it to work... somehow. Just a peek. Kara took a step forward back into the wall of energy, going for the bifröst.

"Miss Kara–"

"Just a minute, Hope…" 

She had to see. Just a minute. Only a peek.

The deeper in it she went the more her hairs stood on end. The more energy she felt passing through her till she reached the machine. 

"I'll be right back."

And then she stepped inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You'll have to wait two weeks for the next chapter instead of one week! Sorry in advance!


	3. Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the longer wait you guys!   
> Thank you for your patience and all your love!

She was ready to put this Monday down as one of the worst she'd had since waking up in a damp cave in Turkey. Lena had spent her entire morning up to her eyes in meetings after choking down her anti-Palladium juice, a thick, black concoction that looked more suited for the inside of an engine than the human digestive system. The first, and arguably most pleasant meeting had been Jess, who had given her the expected stern lecture about making grand statements without warning her and asked how she wanted to spin it. It had been a solid hour of convincing Jess that the problem wasn't the spin, it was the downplay. 

After that it had been an emergency board meeting, because of course they all had something to say about her announcement as well. She had known it would be coming, of course, and so she'd come armed with L Corp's stocks from the morning (up, considerably), and a written offer to buy out any member who was still questioning her leadership. The meeting had gone quickly, leaving her able to look through poorly written resumes until lunch.

She called HR for a new batch. Pam sounded smug. Lena wished she had a good reason to redistribute her.

"Miss Luthor," Hope's gently bubbling blue hourglass lit up at her desk, sounding uncharacteristically nervous. Had she even programmed the AI to feel nervous? "There is an electrical anomaly at the house -"

Lena was already pushing back from her desk. Hope knew not to alert her at work if Kara was experiencing a typical surge. "Is Kara alright?"

"It's not - oh." Hope stopped, and Lena turned slowly to face the hourglass at her desk. It bubbled for a moment in silence. "Miss Kara appears to have taken it upon herself to investigate the rift."

Her blood ran cold. For a moment, all Lena could hear was the dim humming of the arc reactor. 

"She  _ what _ ?"

"She stepped through-"

"I heard you, Hope." Lena snapped, "I'm just trying to process how she could do something so stupid. Alert Sam and the Director, I'm on my way home."

She gathered her things to leave, storming past the empty assistant's desk when she paused. Shit. She still had a walk through with R&D and an investor meeting. Lena leaned over the top of the desk and took the entire assistant's planner. She would have to call them on the way.

Bill took in her sharp stride as she approached the car and wisely slid the partition up as soon as he was in the driver's seat. She was thankful, even more so as he set to navigating them through the city traffic quickly. Lena flipped through the planner, firing off a rapid email to the head of R&D, cancelling the walk through, and settled in to make the uncomfortable investment call.

What she wouldn't give for Kara's grasp of languages right now. 

All in all, it only took three times to convince the poor secretary on the other end that no, it really was Lena Luthor calling to cancel her own appointment, please extend my apologies. Outside the window, the city faded to suburb, and Lena found herself bouncing her leg in agitation.  _ A silly habit, _ Lillian used to lecture her. Lena bounced it harder. Lillian wasn't here.

It took Bill what felt like ages to pull the town car around to the front of the house. Lena barely let the car slow to a stop before she was flying out of it, storming into the house in a flurry of cold wind and fluttering papers, calling out a quick, "Kara?" even though she knew she'd get no answer.

"Miss Kara is not here," Hope said softly, and despite knowing it was coming, Lena slumped, dropping her things by the front door.

"Tell me what happened, Hope. Walk me through it."

"Miss Kara was taking her lunch break in the kitchen," Hope began dutifully, and as Lena moved further into the house she could see the evidence of it. Netflix had its  _ Are you still watching? _ alert on the screen, and on the kitchen island sat two unopened boxes of pizza, along with Kara's phone.

Lena swallowed down the panic. "Okay. Then what?"

"I alerted Miss Kara to an increase in ambient energy, but she denied being its source. On further inspection, I found the energy anomaly was located in the lab. Miss Kara went down to investigate and discovered a rift near the Einstein-Rosen bridge."

Almost numbly, Lena made her way to the lab, where everything appeared exactly as she left it. Components for the second arc reactor sat unfinished on the work bench. The bifröst sat uncovered in the corner, tarp crumpled on the floor where they'd left it the day before. The only noticeable change was the static in the air. It made every hair on her body stand at attention, and Lena shivered, instinctively rubbing at her arms.

"The following events are stored on lab video feed. Would you like to review them?"

No. No, she did not want to see Kara make this decision. She did not want to see an interdimensional rift take away the love of her life. 

"Play it," she croaked.

A faintly translucent blue screen appeared in front of her, showing a panned out view of the lab. Lena recognized it as the corner camera. Kara came into the screen and paused, holding her hand up like she was feeling the air. Lena could see her lips moving but didn't dare ask Hope to play it back with sound.

The screen seemed to flicker and the portal jumped to life. Lena jerked, and internally started counting as she always did when a rift opened in the portal. Her eyes were wide by the time she made it to thirty, and she watched on the screen as Kara glanced around, as if she were looking for anyone to stop her.

"I should have been here," Lena whispered, eyes fixed on Kara as she stepped through the pulsing rift and disappeared. Seconds later, the rift snapped shut, leaving no evidence that it had ever opened. "Hope, play it back."

The video looped back, and this time Lena squinted at it, focusing on the portal itself. It seemed to hold, the structure was sound. It must have caught a naturally occurring anomaly and held it. But it had the same problem as before, it couldn't maintain the opening. She couldn't get it to open again to get Kara back.

"Again."

Kara stepped into the portal again, wearing nothing but her soft sleep shorts and a worn hoodie. Her hands were empty. Lena knew her phone was upstairs. There was no streaking or lightning in the video to indicate…

Lena darted out of the lab, rushing through the living room and down the hallway toward Kara's office. The door slammed open, bouncing against the wall and there, in the middle of her desk, bathed in natural light sat Mjolnir. Lena let out a desperate sob. Wherever Kara was, she was alone, unreachable, and unarmed.

**–???, Unknown–**

  
  


This was not Asgard.

Kara didn’t know how, but she could feel it in her bones. The air felt thick, saturated somehow, with too much of something. The sky was overcast, a deep brown glow. She took in the sight of a sun, blotted out by darkness. The sun she remembered was bright and warm.

As if on cue she seemed to remember what she had come across in. Her pajamas. She shivered and Kara grabbed and rubbed her own arms as she squinted in the dark, trying to see something, anything that would help her. All she could see were dark rolling hills and jagged rocks. She remembered soft hills of green, tall trees bearing fruit, a waterfall, and most importantly, towers of gold. She saw none of that here.

This was not Asgard.

“Okay, that’s definitely enough exploring for one day…”

Kara shook a little, cold settling into her bones and she turned around, fully intending to go back to where she had come from. Only what faced her was more rolling hills covered in the thick darkness of the air.

“No,” Kara shook her head and took a few more steps, brow furrowed in confusion. She had only taken two steps. One inside the portal and one outside and now-

“No. No, no, no.”

It was gone. The energy was gone. The bridge was gone. There was nothing. The whole thing was gone. The lab was gone. Her house was gone. Earth was gone.

“Oh no, no, no, you  _ idiot _ !” Her voice carried and echoed over nothingness. Her hands shot right up into her hair where her fingernails dug into her scalp, scratching as if trying to wake herself up from a dream.

They then went straight down into her hoodie pocket, frantically searching for something. They came back empty.

“Kara you left your phone on the counter you moron!”

Why had she gone through?! Why hadn’t she waited?! She wanted to see where the portal went. How very clever. What a very good idea. 

“I’ll just be a minute. You stupid idiot,” Kara kicked herself, “Okay Kara. Calm down. Breathe, like you’re supposed to…”

Kara shut her eyes and tried to center herself, breathing in deeply. She coughed before trying again, breathing a little less deeply. What would Lena do?

Lena would probably start working out how to find another rift. Find some way to open it up. Kara wasn’t equipped for that at all. Her knowledge of it was...civilian at best. She would never be able to make anything that could force one open, except maybe with her own energy. She wouldn’t even know where to begin on what sort of parts she would need. Where to put it. What to look for.

Kara took another breath, shivering. Her hands came up to rub her arms again.

“Okay…”

What would Alex do?

Alex would STOP. She would stop, think, organize, and plan. That's what the Army had told her to do. Well, Kara had already stopped, so first task complete. Think. 

She was already thinking but Kara didn't know how helpful that was just yet. This wasn't exactly like just being stranded in the woods. 

"Calm down...calm down…"

Think. 

This wasn't Asgard. This certainly wasn't Earth. Why? How so? It was like no place she had ever seen before, or even heard about. It was like no place she remembered. The sky was too dark. The air was too thick. The sun was blocked.

She wasn't sure how much daylight there was left. It was already dark. Usually when a person was lost they should stay in the spot they were left in. It would be easier for someone to find them. Kara didn't know if anyone would be able to find her. If Lena couldn't get the bifröst to work normally then how could she get it to work long enough to be able to get to her? No, Kara had to do this by herself. She had gotten into it, she had to get herself out.

Organize. What did she have with her? Kara looked herself over. It wasn't much. Literally just the clothes on her back. She had shorts, flip-flops, a hoodie, the shirt under that, and a sports bra. Not exactly the lineup one hoped for when stranded on a new and strange planet. Still, at least she had the hoodie. It was cold here, since the sun was blocked so it could literally be worse.

Plan. She couldn't wait for Lena to come find her. There was no telling how long that could take. If anyone could do it, Kara knew it would be Lena. Perhaps a good plan was to find a rift, or try to, like Lena might do. Maybe if she could summon enough lightning, then it would open to somewhere. At least somewhere with better prospects than here. Wherever here was, at least.

Now, how to find one? Maybe she could feel it like last time? She had needed to walk right into it though, so maybe that wasn't the best plan.

Water, shelter, food, in that order, her dad used to say. Did this planet even have water? Would it even be drinkable. None of the survival plans she could think of matched up with what to possibly do if stranded on a completely different planet.

"Moron," Kara sighed and shivered some more. She took a good look around, eyes finally adjusting to the light, or lack of it. She was on a hill. She could see a fair distance, although she would be able to see further if the sun was actually...bright. water flowed down so maybe if she moved down the hill she could find some. It seemed like a plausible scenario. The gravity appeared to be the same in any case. So, not knowing what else to really do, Kara started down the hill.

_____

  
  


It was definitely darker now. Colder too. She'd been walking for hours. One of her flip-flops had broken on some jagged rocks. She'd thought about jumping, because she could go farther and faster that way but she wouldn't know if she missed a rift, or any kind of water so she decided not to do it. She wasn't necessarily tired, but she was hungry, and the stress of her situation had finally fully set in.

She kept walking till she couldn't anymore. Not because she couldn't keep going but because she literally could not see even five inches in front of her. 

Kara kept opening and closing her hands, trying to make sparks, and for the most part she could. They were just small and didn't light up much, and only briefly. It was somehow worse than it just being pitch black. She pulled her hood up and sat down, bringing her legs up as close as she could. She didn't think she had ever felt this cold before.

She wished she had a pair of Lena's comfy warm sweatpants. Kara sighed and squeezed her arms around her legs. She wished she had Lena.

_____

Kara didn't know when she had drifted off to sleep. She had been cold. She curled up on herself thinking hard about Lena and their new house at Christmas time and how warm it could get sitting in front of the fireplace in the den. She had only shut her eyes for a moment, or so she thought.

The blonde felt noticeably warmer. She also felt  _ stiff. _ Blue eyes fluttered open and immediately flooded with light. Kara winced and squeezed them shut again. She groaned.

Whispering came from beyond and she froze, blood running cold. She forced her eyes open, squinting and trying to make them adjust to the light faster. When they did, Kara startled, eyes wide as she stared at three tall... _ things _ , each with white faces and two huge black holes where eyes should be.

"Ljós-Alfar?"

"The ears are wrong."

"Human?"

"No, the hands."

Kara realized she was sparking and she shoved her hands into the pocket of her hoodie only to be pulled short, shackles and chains around her wrists.

"Vanir?"

Kara pulled against the shackles, expecting them to break. To her surprise they held firm. That was new.

"Perhaps."

One of them stepped a little forward, holding a prod and he gently thrust the end of it into Kara's legs.

" _ Hey! _ " Kara scrambled back as far as the shackles would let her go, hands sparking again. Her heart was hammering. What were these things?!

The one stepped forward and prodded her again. To Kara's continuing surprise, she felt the prong of it against her skin, almost like it hurt. 

"Stop that!"

Her hands came forward, still sparking, and grabbed the rod from him. The sparks traveled up it and shocked the creature. The others grabbed him and pulled him back, leaving the prod in Kara's hands.

"She speaks our tongue."

"Allspeak? And the lights?"

"Yes. Zor-El?"

"Asgardian. Could be."

Kara just listened to them whisper more, trying to pull at the chains and keep an eye on them. That was until she heard them say 'Asgardian'.

"Asgardians? I am," she scrambled up, having to lean over some still for the chains, frantic for understanding, "I'm an Asgardian. Is...is this Asgard? Where are we?"

They backed up some, staring at her, or so Kara assumed. They had no eyes to speak of that she could see, only big blank holes. 

One stepped forward, a taller one and not the one that had picked her with the prod, "You are an Asgardian?"

"...yes?" Kara responded cautiously. She felt tense, unsure of how to read the situation. She wished she at least had Mjolnir.

They all began to whisper again and this time Kara could not hear them. She held the prod tight in her hands. She watched as they would occasionally turn to her and then go back to whispering. 

After several more seconds of this they all turned to her and Kara shrank back some, still cautious.

“How did you come to be here?”

“I...came through a portal. It led me here.”

“From where?”

That seemed a little invasive. Kara shrank away a little more and she could immediately tell that they noticed she wasn’t going to answer them.   
“I don’t really want to say that.”

They liked her active refusal even less and the three advanced. Kara quickly held out the prod, pointing it at them to keep them away from her. She channeled what little sparks she could create into the prod.

That seemed to halt them, but only for a moment. One took the hit and grabbed the electric prod and tried to take it from her. Kara held on but the other two mysterious beings came and flanked her. One forced her down by kicking the back of her knees and the other grabbed her head in a lock.

Kara’s hands immediately left the prod and went to the creature’s arms, trying to pull them away from her neck. To her astonishment, she somehow wasn’t strong enough to pry the arm off her throat. The grip grew tighter and her vision began to blur until it went black.

  
  


**-New York, USA, Earth-**

  
  


The same video of Kara stepping into rift looped behind Alex. Lena was fairly certain the image of Kara disappearing was burned into her retinas. She was definitely seeing it when she closed her eyes. It played again, and again, and again until Lena finally put her head down on her arms.

Alex was pacing in front of the table, her eyes straining at the video like she could see something she might have missed the last thirty times she’d watched it. When Lena had first brought the recording into SHIELD, Alex had to be physically restrained, Sam shooting her an apologetic look over the top of Alex’s head. For the first time since meeting her, Lena had been genuinely concerned that Alex might try to strike her.

The idea made her want to laugh for no other reason than the look she knew Kara would have given both of them. 

Except Kara wasn’t here. 

Lena groaned into the curve of her arm, raising her head to glare daggers at Alex, who was still pacing. “Could you just  _ stop _ ?” 

Alex turned on her with wild eyes, and distantly, Lena wondered who decided it was a good idea to leave them alone in a room together. 

“What, like you have? You haven’t done anything since you brought this here!”

“And what have you done, past squint at a screen that can tell you nothing more than that  _ Kara is gone _ ?”

“Do you think I don’t see that?” Alex’s voice rose incredulously.

Lena smiled grimly, pressing her palms flat against the metal top of the table. “I’m not sure you can see past the end of your nose some days, Agent.”

Color rose in Alex’s cheeks, her mouth opening to deliver what was no doubt a scathing retort when the conference room door opened behind Lena. Alex’s teeth clicked audibly together as she snapped her jaw closed. Twisting in her chair, Lena nodded at Director Jones, who acknowledged her with a solemn nod of his own. The door shut solidly behind him.

Great. Locked in a room with two of her least favorite people.

Because today couldn’t get worse.

“I suppose I should be congratulating you,” Director Jones said after a moment of watching Kara disappear on the screen, “The portal clearly works.”

Lena scoffed, shaking her head. “If it worked, Kara would be at home and we wouldn’t be sitting here. The portal caught an anomaly and held it, but I can’t reopen it. I don’t even know where it took her.”

Or if it took her anywhere habitable. Lena pushed the thought out of her mind. 

The Director hmm’d softly, dark eyes watching the video as Kara disappeared into the rift again. Lena turned away from it, leaving her eyes to land only on Alex, who was staring at her with barely abated anger. Lena met her with a level stare of her own. 

She didn’t blame Alex for being angry with her. In Alex’s eyes, it was Lena’s fault her sister was missing. Without Lena, Kara would have been at work like anyone else. She wouldn’t have been so upset at secrets being kept and half truths.

Without her, Kara would still be there.

Lena was the first to break eye contact, her throat tight. 

“What will you need to get the portal functional?” 

Her eyes widened imperceptibly. “Were you not at the same meeting I was yesterday? That portal can’t sustain itself. It caught a one in a million chance with that rift today. I can’t,” her voice caught, and she pursed her lips in frustration. “I can’t replicate it.”

“You can take Agent Schott,” Director Jones continued like Lena hadn’t said anything at all, and she threw her hands up in annoyance. 

Alex tracked her agitated movements, a hand on her hip and one brow raised in challenge. “What, giving up on my sister so easily?”

Lena was beginning to feel like waking up in a cave attached to a car battery had been a better Monday than this one. “You should know better than anyone how dedicated I am to helping your sister, Agent Danvers.” Lena wanted nothing more than to reach across the room and shake the bravado out of Alex. She knew the agent was worried, just like she knew that she was the safest outlet for Alex to take out all of her frustration.

That didn’t mean she had to like it. 

Alex snorted indelicately in response. Director Jones looked between them calculatingly, and Lena decided she liked that look on his face less than any of his other expressions to date. “Perhaps you should take Agent Danvers and Agent Schott, Miss Luthor.”

“Perhaps not,” Lena countered immediately. “I’ll take Winn if I’ll take anyone, he at least knows his ass from a conduit.” She looked at Alex pointedly.  _ Unlike some people. _ “If you’re passing agents out like candy, I’ll take Agent Arias as well. At least I know she can take direction.” 

Jones nodded once in agreement, gave Alex a pointed look that Lena wanted to interpret as  _ behave yourself _ , and left them alone again. Lena thought it was probably his worst choice yet. 

“Why do you have to act like that?” Alex asked after a moment of silence, her voice thin and tired.

“Like what?” Lena crossed her arms in front of herself, unable to stop the defensiveness in her. 

“Like you’re better than everyone else. You’ve done it from the second we met.”

The smile that crossed her face was pinched and sad. Lena shrugged one shoulder, looking over Alex’s shoulder to the screen where Kara disappeared from view again. “It’s the way I was raised, I suppose.”

“Well, knock it off. It’s hard to see how upset you are through that bullshit.”

_____

  
  


The tension in the lab was high. 

It probably had something to do with the wrench Lena had just launched across it, causing all conversation to grind to a halt. She was breathing heavily, arms loose at her sides while Winn, Sam, and Alex stared at her. 

“This isn’t working,” Lena said finally, her hands balling into fists. 

“It’s fine, we were just -” 

She cut Winn off with a glare, shaking her head. “No, it’s not fine. You’re all arguing about things that don’t matter, in my space, while I’m trying to work. I can’t think while you’re here. Just - go upstairs. Order food. Just -  _ get out _ .”

She was making an uncomfortable habit of kicking people out of her lab, but as Winn walked past her looking like a kicked puppy, Lena found she was having a hard time feeling bad about it. When the door shut behind them and she was finally, blessedly alone, Lena sunk onto a stool and took a deep breath. In for five, out for five.

The portal wouldn’t open. It didn’t matter how much power she threw at it, it was like now that it had caught and held a rift, it wouldn’t create one of it’s own. She had practically drained the arc reactor beneath the house, there were no tests she could run at this point until it regenerated, and even then, what good would it do? The portal wouldn’t open. It sat stubbornly empty, devoid of any interdimensional energy and she couldn’t force it -

The arc reactor at her chest hummed angrily at her.

In for five, out for five. 

Lena pushed the heel of her hand hard into one eye, the pressure of it grounding her momentarily. The prick of tears still threatened, looming over her with the idea that if she couldn’t get the portal to open, she may never see Kara again. She didn’t hear the lab door creak quietly open as the first tear hit the desktop.

Sam just stood by the door for a moment, taking in the sight and sighing. This was taking a toll on everyone. She’d been dealing with Alex for the last few hours but now she needed to deal with Lena.

“Hey there,” Sam placed a gentle hand on Lena’s shoulder, “Come on. You need to eat too. We are ordering pizza.”

“Not hungry,” Lena said thickly, sitting up under Sam’s hand and wiping harshly at her eyes. “I should… I should keep working.”

“Honey, you can’t. You’re going to pass out and then you won’t be any good to anyone. I know it sucks. But, Kara would definitely want you to shove some food in your face, and I think you know that too,” Sam said, trying to be gentle but also get her point across.

Even the mention of Kara sent a new wave of despair through her, and Lena sucked in a sharp breath, closing her eyes tight against the fresh onslaught of tears. Kara’s bright smile flashed in her memory, and Lena could do nothing to fight the hot splash of tears on her cheeks. 

What would Kara want from her right now? What if Kara had gone through that portal and made it home, to Asgard? What if they managed to open a new rift and found her and she didn’t want to come back? Even worse, what if Kara had gone through the portal and found herself on some planet with an atmosphere that was inhospitable to her close-to-human lungs? What if it opened to nowhere but the empty vacuum of space? What if there was no Kara to find?

Sam sank down in front of her and wrapped Lena in a firm hug. She rubbed her back soothingly, or tried to, “You probably don’t want to hear this again but it’s going to be okay. You’re the smartest person in this house right now. You’re going to figure it out. Yes, it might take time, but if anyone can do it, you can do it,” Sam said firmly. She gave Lena a squeeze and pulled back to look at her, “If you can get us out of a cave with some scrap metal and a special battery, you can do this.”

Lena gripped the back of Sam’s shirt, the material bunching in her hands. She choked on a sob, burying the sound into Sam’s shoulder. Part of her wanted to correct Sam, that it wasn’t a  _ special battery _ , but her heart wasn’t in it. After several tries, she forced the question that had been weighing on her out. “What if I can’t?”

“You can,” Sam said without hesitation. “Lena, you  _ can _ .”

“I can’t even get it to turn on,” Lena released her grip, pulling away to wipe at her cheeks. 

“Yet. But you will. Just come eat. Drink some water. Take some time. Watch the video again, I don’t know. If it opened because of an anomaly maybe you could make...a portable one?” Sam asked, unsure of what was actually possible, “Then we could get it to a rift if one were closer.”

Chewing at the inside of her lip, Lena eyed the large portal in the corner consideringly. A portable version. That… could work. If she could power it. She glanced at the reactor components still sitting abandoned on the desk.

Maybe.

Sam was still looking at her expectantly, and Lena forced her expression into something close to agreeable. “Okay. Is Winn done looking like I took away Christmas?”

“Why don’t you come up and check with me? I’m sure the pizza will be here soon,” Sam suggested with a smile.

Lena nodded absently, eyes back on the parts on the desk. She looked back up when Sam put a hand on her arm again, and this time she offered a small, genuine smile. “You’re right. Thank you, Sam.” She gestured vaguely, hoping Sam would understand the unspoken  _ for everything _ .

“That’s what friends are for, Lena.”

____

  
  


Later that evening, after she had finally convinced Sam to get Alex and Winn out of her house, Lena sat curled up in her large empty bed. And if she opted to wrap herself up in one of Kara’s sweaters and curl around Kara’s pillow, well, there was no one there to judge her for it. Sam’s flippant suggestion from earlier swirled in her mind. She had ignored it for most of the day, instead focusing her energy on the idea of a portable rift catcher.

Winn had latched to it. Together, they had designed a roughly body sized portal, something they could collapse and carry with relative ease. She would need to finish a secondary arc reactor, of course, and it would really be up to chance to see if it would be enough to power it. They’d have to catch an anomaly to test it, and according to Winn, there had been no rhyme or reason to their appearances yet.

With a sigh, Lena shook a hand free of the blankets and reached for the tablet she’d brought to bed with her. Sam was right. It wouldn’t hurt to watch the video one more time. Maybe she had missed something.

She squinted at the bright screen, tucking in deeper into Kara’s pillow, inhaling the familiar comforting scent. She pulled up the video, watching Kara come into the lab. Lena squeezed tighter, following the soft curves of Kara’s features as she stopped in a movement that was now familiar.

“ _ Just a minute, Hope. _ ”

Lena’s eyes burned. It struck her she hadn’t watched to the recording with sound yet, and the sound of Kara’s voice was both a balm on her nerves and sand in a wound. She sounded curious, annoyed at Hope. The combination was so familiar to Lena it hurt.

Kara pushed closer to the machine. “ _ I’ll be right back _ .” And then she was gone.

With shaking hands, Lena pushed the tablet away from herself, hiding her face in Kara’s pillow and giving herself over to the body wracking sobs she had been trying so hard to hold in all day.  _ I’ll be right back _ . 

If it hadn’t shut behind her, Kara would be in bed with her now, telling her to stop working. If Lena had just been able to get it to work any of the thirteen prototypes before, Kara would still be here.

Sleep was a long time coming.

  
  


**–???, Unknown–**

  
  


Kara came-to in the dark. Her throat felt sore and she softly rolled to her side. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dim light. The floor beneath her was hard. When she pushed herself up onto her hands and knees she looked around, trying to see if those creatures were still present. Instead she found herself in a cell. A soft glowing red field blocked the only exit she could see of the small room. 

Beyond seemed to be another cell like hers, also dimly lit. She pushed herself to a standing position and rubbed around her neck, getting closer to the forcefield to inspect it. Kara could see she was in a long hall of cells just like hers and she sighed. Blue eyes studied the red wall of light. Maybe she could surge it, if it ran on electricity.

She reached out with one hand to touch it and yelped, instantly drawing her hand back to her chest as it burned her fingertips.

"Are you alright?"

Kara froze.

The voice had been soft. Curious. It hadn't fit the voices that came from the creatures before but that didn't mean it wasn't one of them. 

The blonde moved closer to the forcefield, peering out, trying to see if she could find who had spoken. Her eyes landed on a figure in the cell across from her. It was hard to see past the two layers so Kara squinted.

"You should not touch the wall. It will burn you."

"Yeah, I got that one, thanks," Kara said, hairs on the back of her neck rising. There was something about the voice. It sounded vaguely familiar. Like she had heard it before.

"The sting fades after a short time," the voice said and the figure that matched it moved closer.

The woman came into full view and Kara felt like she had fallen into a dream. Her eyes widened. A ghost. That's what she was looking at. It had to be a ghost. It couldn't be what Kara was actually seeing. 

Because Kara was staring at a face she remembered as her mother.

" _ Mom… _ ?"

The woman’s eyes narrowed, brows pulling down to form a frown. “Kara…?”

Kara just stared. Her mouth was open but no sound came out. 

“You’re alive!” A wide smile replaced the frown, and she rushed forward, stopping short of the wall. She raised a hand like she wanted to reach out to touch Kara through the barriers. “You’ve grown even more beautiful since I last saw you.” Blue eyes, so much like Kara’s own, softened at Kara’s obvious shock. “It’s me, darling. Alura. Your mother.”

"N…" Kara stopped. No, this wasn't right. She might not remember everything but she would know if her own mother was alive. She would have come to find her. Right? "No, you can't? That's…" Kara shook her head and backed away from the barrier, "No, no, no my parents are dead."

A flinch of grief flickered over Alura’s face, and she nodded grimly, her hand dropping uselessly back to her side. “Zor El didn’t make it out,” she said softly, “Your father would have been so proud to see the young woman you’ve become,” a far away look crossed her features but she shook it away. “You were so young when I saw you last, just a child… everything was burning, the bridge barely got you out. Did the bifröst lead you to Midgard? Where is Mjolnir?”

Kara didn't know where Midgard was but her eyes did brighten at the mention of Mjolnir. "I...I forgot him. I didn't bring...I didn't really intend to be here this long–you were really there?" Kara moved closer again, heart beating fast. The face was the same. The voice was the one she dreamed about, the one she remembered. Kara's eyes stung, glistening with moisture. "You're really  _ her _ . You're really my mom?!" Kara forgot about the barrier warning and moved forward. It touched her skin again and sizzled and yelped.

Alura pressed as close as she dared to the wall, “Yes, can’t you feel it? What I wouldn’t give to be able to hug you, my Kara. I can’t believe this day has finally come.”

Kara was crying. She felt silly, like she was a child again but it was just too much and she didn't know how to process it any other way. "How? How did you get here? Where are we? Why didn't you come back and find me?!"

“I couldn’t,” Alura’s voice was pleading, begging Kara to understand. “Your father did the best he could to hold off the damage to the bridge, but it was too late. You were among the last of us to escape. I was captured by the Dark Elves and brought here - this planet, Svartalfheim, it’s their home. It’s a miserable place, where the sun's light rarely touches, and without the bifröst, escape has been… complicated.”

Kara wasn't sure how much of it was sinking in and how much she would have to replay later to fully process. "A portal brought me here. I mean, an artificial bifröst, not like the one I remember. It caught some...kind of energy and turned on. I only stepped in for a minute and it closed behind me. I thought…" Kara swallowed thickly, "I thought maybe if I went through it then it would take me…"  _ Home _ . 

She sighed, hands fidgeting with her hoodie. "I didn't even know there were other places to end up…"

“Most of them are much nicer than Svartalfheim,” Alura offered an understanding expression, her eyes gentle. “If your new world has an artificial bifröst, perhaps there’s hope that we’ll see the sun again.”

"I don't know…" Kara lowered herself to sit in front of the barrier, feeling small again. "Lena couldn't get it to work. I wasn't supposed to go through. Oh, my–" Kara stopped. What did she say? What did she call Lena now, to her mother. Her birth mother. Eliza knew about her and Lena now and she had been so welcoming. More than Alex. 

She chewed on her lip. "My...my girlfriend is a genius. If anyone can get it to work she can…"

Alura smiled widely, “If she is smart enough to pick you as a partner, I’m sure she will.”

Kara smiled softly, blushing. Her face felt warm and it flowed over the rest of her body, "Yeah…" Lena was probably close to figuring it all out.

  
  


**-New York, USA, Earth-**

  
  


“It’s been two days,” Alex was saying, her cheek propped up on one hand. There were dark circles under her eyes and her hair fell lank and greasy over one side of her head. “How have we not gotten anywhere in two days?”

“We’re not nowhere,” Lena said crossly, setting down the soldering tools in her hand with a careless clatter. “We have the framework for the mobile portal already built, the arc reactor is almost finished, Winn is plotting anomaly points… You didn’t have to come.” She said it pointedly, jerking her head towards the door to drive the point home. 

"Don't you two even start this again. You have to behave," Sam shouted from the other side of the lab where she was sitting with Winn, trying to plot anomalies. "When Kara comes back I don't want to have to tell her how badly you two got along, okay?"

Alex widened her eyes innocently, “What? This  _ is _ us getting along. Right, Lena?”

“Definitely. I can’t imagine anyone I’d want to share this moment with more.” Lena said flatly. Alex smothered a grin.

"Mhm, okay. I like to think I know the both of you and I  _ know _ what both of you act like when you behave," Sam waved her hand in their general direction, " _ This _ isn't that."

“None of us know how to behave right now, Sam,” Lena let out a sigh, picking up the last two pieces of the arc reactor and fitting them together. It lit up in her palm, the triangle of light at its front soothing. “We’re doing the best we can.”

To her surprise, Alex nodded along with her, pushing her hair back out of her eyes. “It’s this or you all get to listen to me complain about how your technobabble makes no sense to me.”

“You could try reading a book,” Lena quipped, tapping her fingers against the casing in her hand. 

“Great, do you have the How To guide for dealing with your sister's pretentious girlfriend?”

“I do, as a matter of fact. The first step is finding the nearest exit.

Sam pulled her head back in the chair to stare at the ceiling. This had been never ending for two days. "Okay, from now on, if you're not talking about solutions, you have to say one of your favorite things about Kara. Alex will go first for her mean comment," Sam said pointedly, even if it was somewhat true.

Alex pointed a finger at herself with her eyebrows up in question, clearly making sure that Sam had seen the same interaction she had. At Sam’s hard look, Alex let out a deep breath, flopping back into her chair dramatically. “Kara cares about other people with her whole heart. She hasn’t met a single person on the entire planet that she couldn’t find something good to say about.”

Lena let out a little laugh, her eyes soft. “That’s not entirely true. She absolutely hates my mother.”

"Lena's turn!" Sam shot off and swiveled her chair to look at her friend, "Only positives in this room from now on."

Winn seemed to shrink into the corner as Lena shot Sam a withering glare, only receiving one in return. She was pretty sure she heard Winn mumble something about wanting to be excused from the conversation. “Fine,” Lena groused, turning her glare back to Alex, who shifted uncomfortably under the intensity of it. “Kara’s really good in bed.” 

The reaction was immediate. Winn dropped the tablet in his hands, cursing. Alex wailed in agony, whining that her ears were bleeding. Sam let out a bark of a laugh, on the verge of an 'I  _ knew _ it,' but said nothing for Alex's glare.

"Okay, okay, Lena! That does  _ not  _ count. You have to go again!"

“Hmm. I thought we were supposed to list our favorite things.” Lena barely contained the smirk, “But, fine. Kara always seems to know the exact thing to say. She’s the most calming, grounding person I’ve ever met. For all that she’s flighty and distractible,” the same soft smile from before crept over her features. For the first time since Kara had disappeared, Lena felt the same calmness she was trying to describe fall over her, “She never wavers.”

Alex’s posture loosened as Lena spoke. She’d always known Lena cared about her sister. She knew Kara wouldn’t have stuck around so long if she didn’t, but it was different to see it in person. Lena was always so buttoned up and closed off. Alex never felt like she got to know the real person. 

And now here she was, a small, love struck smile on her face, talking about her sister like she hung the stars.

It was all Alex had ever wanted for Kara, for her to find someone who loved her. 

“You’ve never taken her camping, then.” Alex said, a fond grin on her face as she remembered their last camping trip as kids. “She wavers when it’s the middle of the night and she has to pee outside. She always had to pack three extra pairs of shoes because her aim was so bad. She’s got less survival skills than a puppy.”

Her face grew somber. She could see Lena come to the same realization she just had.

Kara had no survival skills to speak of, and she was trapped on some unknown world in shorts and an old sweatshirt. Lena swallowed hard and broke the moment, turning back to the desk and the completed arc reactor. 

Sam and Winn both sighed. He took up the tablet again and kept working and Sam shut her eyes. Five minutes. Well, it was the nicest five minutes they had had so far. She sat properly in the chair this time and went back to work too.

**–Harudheen, Svartalfheim–**

  
  


“You must have made it here because of the Convergence,” Alura was saying. She was nestled up as close to the corner of her cell as she could get. They had been catching each other up on what they’d missed of the other’s lives for the last several hours, only interrupted by the guards' rotations. 

"What is the Convergence? Sounds mysterious," Kara said, head and back leaning against the wall, legs stretched out in front of her. She was as close to the barrier as she dared to get, having been burnt five times now. It wasn't a lesson she wanted repeated.

Alura laughed quietly, glancing down the hall to make sure there weren’t guards close enough to overhear them. “It’s the alignment of the Nine Realms. It causes the anomalies, like the one you said you came through. The Convergence only happens every five thousand years.”

"It could cause anomalies here?" Kara asked, eyes opening, another new half-baked idea forming.

“It causes them in all the realms.”

Kara brought her knees up to her chest and looked through the barrier over to her mother in the adjacent cell, "So...if we just find another one open like I found...then we could end up somewhere else, maybe on Ear–Midgard?"

“In theory,” Alura tipped her head back against the wall, looking at Kara out of the corner of her eye. “The chances of finding one in your cell are not high, my daughter.”

"If Lena can make an arc reactor with scraps in a cave then I can find a rift somewhere on this dark planet," The blonde said and shot up, suddenly more determined than she had been the last couple of days.

"If the chances are low inside then...then we get outside. We get out. We  _ break _ out," Kara said and looked to her mother. If there was a chance...Kara had to take it. She had to get back.

“Kara Zor-El, they will kill you if they catch you,” Alura sat up straight, turning to face Kara fully. 

"They can  _ t _ _ry_ ," Kara said haughtily.

  
  


**–New York, USA, Earth–**

  
  


“I think it’s gonna work,” Winn said excitedly, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet.

The more time Lena spent with him, the more he reminded her of an excitable puppy. The kind that would shiver and pee when you came into the door too fast. 

“If we can catch an anomaly, it’ll work,” she corrected gently, and he nodded quickly, eyes wide.

The finished portal stood roughly six feet tall and slightly less than three feet wide. Wide enough for one person to step comfortably through it. It collapsed down into a dense crate, something she had taken great joy in making Alex haul around the lab. Field testing, she’d called it. Alex’s way to contribute. Obviously she’d needed to make sure it wasn’t too heavy to move.

Lena had determinedly ignored Sam’s disapproving look. 

“We’ll catch one,” Winn decided, optimistic. “Sam and I have charted out the most likely landed spots. There have been increasing reports in the Park, maybe we should try there first.”

"A good a place to start as any I think," Sam agreed, "our tablets can read and see if there are any fluctuating or increasing energies. If not we try somewhere else. We try till we get one," she said resolutely.

“Can this,” Alex went to kick the portal’s box only to slow it to a tap under the weight of Lena’s glare, “wait in the van until we get those energy signatures? It’s heavy.”

Lena rolled her eyes, pressing the button to collapse the portal into the crate in question. “I’d rather have it ready if we catch one. It’s a blink and you miss it situation.” The portal folded itself down, and she bent to latch it closed. “Let’s get going. I don’t want to waste any time.”

Winn was practically vibrating. “Can I drive?”

All three of them answered with a resounding, “ _ No! _ ”

In the end, Alex drove, navigating them into the city in their unmarked SHIELD issued van. The whole process of it left Lena feeling vaguely uneasy. She felt a little like she should be blindfolded or something ridiculous, seated in the back with the crate boxed in between her feet. Winn sat across from her, looking positively green as Alex darted them through traffic toward Central Park. 

Alex took them in through Central Park West, under Winn’s weak direction. Lena glanced at his tablet critically. There had been a cluster of anomalies there within the last week, each one increasing in strength. Her heart clenched in hope.

It could be today. They could bring Kara home today.

She shut out the darker  _ what if’s _ that had plagued her since Kara had gone missing.

The van stopped abruptly, everyone jerking forward. “Sorry,” Alex said, sounding not sorry at all. “There was a squirrel.”

" _ Aww _ , she'll run over a grandma crossing the crosswalk at a red light but this woman will stop for a squirrel in the park," Sam teased and leaned over from the passenger seat and kissed Alex on the cheek. Her tablet started to beep loudly.

"Oh shit!!! Winn!" She turned to the back and held hers up, the readings spiking to the north of them.

“Oh man, okay! Here we go!” Winn fumbled unbuckling himself, trying to stand with the buckle still around his waist. Air left him in a pained  _ oof _ , and Lena helped haul him up, already out of her seat and dragging the portal toward the back of the van.

Alex was already there, reaching around her to grab the crate and pull it down. “Lead the way,” she said brusquely, suddenly all business. 

They shared a serious look, Lena breaking away as she jumped out of the van. “Look,” she pointed.

Roughly fifty yards away, the world seemed to ripple. The four of them all but ran toward it, Alex lagging only a little with the weight of the crate. The closer they got, the harder it was to wade through the energy in the air. It felt thick, sticking to the back of her throat even as it made her hairs stand on end. It felt very much like the lab had, when she’d gone to find Kara and found only a dark portal.

“Open it!” Lena heard herself shout. Alex practically dropped the crate, the lid flying open at the abrupt altitude change. As she was leaning down to hit the button, she glared up at Alex, “Are you serious? You could break it before we even -!”

The portal shot up, the arc reactor buried in its base whirring so loudly Lena could hear it over the crackling of the anomaly in front of them. The portal flickered to life, and suddenly the energy had a direction. It shot between the curved metal arms, zapping as it went. Lena’s heart surged.

A beat went by. 

Nothing happened. The portal held, forty five seconds and counting.

No one came out.

Her heart sank. 

“Alex -”

“Uh, guys?” Winn was staring out toward the street, his face pale. 

Lena turned, and suddenly it felt like the world slowed down. There, rocketing toward them, came a familiar gray shape. Lena had stared at it forlornly for the last three days as it sat, unmovable, on Kara’s desk.

Mjolnir shot past them, past the portal, across the clearing toward another rift that had begun to open.

“Oh my, God,” Lena whispered. “Kara.”

“Shut it down!” Alex yelled, already trying to drag the open and active portal to follow the zooming hammer. Lena fumbled with the portal as it shifted, hitting multiple keys to get it to discharge the energy it was holding. It fizzled and popped, the rift inside shrinking down as Alex scooted it inch by painstaking inch. “Hurry!” 

“I’m trying,” Lena snarled, entering the command for it to collapse. It started to fold, both of them bending to grab it at its base. WIthout waiting for Lena to get a good grip, Alex took off at a run, Lena barely holding on to her side, struggling to keep up with the SHIELD agent as she shot across the field toward the rift that had already swallowed the hammer. 

“Here, here!” Alex skidded to a stop. This time, it was Lena who dropped the portal with little regard to its safety, already halfway down to reopen it. The portal groaned in protest. Lena grit her teeth against the sound. She hadn’t factored rapid deployment into her calculations when she’d designed it, which in retrospect was an error in judgement. It shot back up, her fingers flying over the keys.

The energy field in front of them crackled and caught on the portal arms, which shook as they took the impact. Lena took a quick step back as it shot to life, roaring open. Instead of silence, this time she could hear the sounds of yelling from the other side. 

_____

  
  


"Come on, come on,  _ come on _ !!!" Kara was running. She had her hand out, held up high, just waiting. It was coming. She could feel it. It was faint but she could feel it. She only hoped Mjolnir could cross the vast expanse of space quicker than the Dark Elves could catch up to them.

The sharp rocks hurt the bottom of her feet. Her flip-flops were gone. She had no shoes. Her mother was close behind her but the hammer was still too slow. Kara willed it harder. It would come when she needed it. It would come when she needed it.

Something shot through a ripple in the darkness far ahead of them. Kara's face beamed as she felt the familiar whistle of rushing air. Shrieked victoriously as her roughed up hand grasped around the firm leather clad handle of Mjolnir. Now they were in for a ride.

She let it slide in her hand till all she held was the strap and she started to spin it as she came to a halt. She sidestepped her mother who ran past her but stopped when she saw Kara had stopped.

"Keep running! There's a rift ahead! We're getting out of this place!"

Her wrist kept turning, kept spinning Mjolnir and then Kara released it. The hammer flew straight into the group of Dark Elves chasing after them, clad in armor and those terrifying eyeless masks. It crashed through several of them and then shot back, returning to Kara's hand. It bought them a few seconds.

She turned and saw the rift had been torn open. She didn't care where it went as long as it was away from here.

"Go, go, go!"

Alura went, heading for the opening, hesitating as Kara came up behind her. 

The older woman went running through first and then Kara crashed right through after. She didn't take in where she landed and instead turned around, swinging with her hammer, intending to hit any Dark Elves following them and instead Mjolnir ripped right through the portal machine. It caused it to instantly lose the connection and the rift energy collapsed on itself, both shutting the portal and sending out a small shockwave that blew everyone down.

Kara landed face first in the dirt, hand still grasped tightly around Mjolnir. She groaned and spat out some grass, head a little dizzy, "Mom??"

“I’m here, darling. We made it.” Alura was sitting up, her eyes squinting in the bright light.

Lena’s heart was pounding so hard she was sure it could be heard miles away. She was staring at Kara, mouth comically agape, her shock written clear as day across her face. It had worked. The portal, now in a thousand pieces, had worked.

It had brought Kara home.

Kara, and whoever it was she had brought with her.

A quick glance at Alex showed the same shock, and behind her, she could hear Winn whooping his victory. Sam was shushing him, scolding him for ruining the moment. Lena didn’t spare them a thought, her eyes flicking immediately back to the battered blonde in front of her.

“Kara?” She heard her voice shake and hated it, hated the weakness it betrayed.

She knew that voice. Kara pushed herself up, face covered in dirt, knuckles bruised and scratched, knees roughed up, feet and toes grimey from running without shoes. She knew that voice. She turned her head and blue eyes landed on Lena. For a second Kara thought her chest might explode.

And then she was scrambling up, kicking up dirt. She almost fell a couple times, unbalanced and still dizzy from the shockwave.

" _ Lena _ !"

She didn't stop very gracefully. In fact, Kara stopping was more her clumsily slamming into her girlfriend and sending them both down into the grass. Mjolnir lay where Kara had left it and now her arms wrapped around her in a strong embrace.

"You did it! I knew you could do it! You're incredible! I love you!" The blonde exclaimed loudly, kissing Lena each time between sentences.

It was overwhelming. Kara was in all of her senses. It brought tears to her eyes, and they fell in fast streams down her cheeks. She clung to Kara, taking in the sharp smell of whatever planet Kara had been on, the earthy smell of mud on her clothes, the blood on her skin. Under it all, the familiar smell of Kara.

“I can’t believe you’re here,” Lena whispered, her hands fluttering over Kara’s filthy curls. “You’re okay. I can’t… Kara, you’re  _ okay _ .”

"Yeah!" Kara gave her traditional million dollar smile, just absolutely over delighted to be delivering such news.

"I'm okay. I had help though," Kara said and shifted, getting herself so she was sitting up on her knees. She reached for Lena gently, holding out one of her hands for Lena to take. She pulled her up till she was sitting up comfortably and turned her head to look back towards her mother.

"Lena...Alex," Kara called and looked for her sister. She met her eyes and then looked back at Alura, "This...this is my mom."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woooooo, it's getting exciting now guys!
> 
> As always, come yell at us on tumblr:
> 
> \- bandwidthlimit
> 
> \- happypugstuff

**Author's Note:**

> You made it! Congratulations!
> 
> Stick around, it's going to get fun 😎


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